Welcoming the New Masters

Apparently the College feels it's time to bring literature and intellectual interests back to the houses--and perhaps spark interest in the Romance Languages at the same time. Last week, the College announced the new masters for houses with departing ones: Professor Lino Pertile and Anna Bensted will take the reins of Eliot House and Professor Tom C. Conley and Professor Verena A. Conley will assume leadership of Kirkland house next September. Pertile and Tom Conley are professors of romance languages and literature, Verana Conley is a literature professor, and Bensted is an editor for National Public Radio's affiliate in Boston.

Pertile and Bensted are not new faces around Eliot House, but the House residents anticipate their leadership and guidance. The pair first became part of the Eliot House community in 1994 when Pertile served as a visiting Professor. Although the family had since moved to a house on Garden Street, they are hardly strangers at the House. The family dines at the Eliot House dining hall at least once a week and Pertile even participates in the Eliot Crew team. Pertile is already well-connected with the Eliot House residents and we expect and welcome Bensted to develop similar friendships with the students.

It may be more of a blessing than a curse that the Conleys do not have an established House community to waltz into--one of their primary goals is to create a stronger sense of community at Kirkland House. The Conleys also intend to concentrate their efforts on intellectual, ethnic, and cultural missions to develop an "ethic of living" among their students. These are both admirable goals for the House and we hope that the Conleys are successful in their aspirations.

We trust that the College picked the best candidates for the posts. At the same time, the number of House masters who are minorities remains low. We hope that any future vacancies are filled with at least some consideration toward increasing ethnic diversity among House masters.

We wish both the Pertiles and the Conleys the best of luck with their masterships. Both are pending, of course, on the formal approval by both the Harvard Corporation and President Neil R. Rudenstine, but we encourage them to quickly approve the nominees.