Lucky Dunster: A Woman Tutor

There will be at least one lady living in a Dunster House entry this spring. Doris Helen Kearns, assistant professor of Government and a former White House fellow, will be the first woman tutor to live in a Harvard House.

Miss Kearns, who was a non-resident tutor in Dunster House for '66-67, will be shifting from one male province to another. She is returning from a year as a White House fellow to President Johnson.

Miss Kearns will be head section woman in Government 130 this term and will teach a course in American Government in the fall.

"She will be the first woman to live in a male college since the twelfth century," John P. Russo '64, a Dunster House tutor in English said. "Neither Oxford nor Cambridge allowed women residents," he added.

Russo said that the members of the Senior Common Room were not trying intentionally to experiment in coeducational living. "We were only looking for the best people. God knows they're often not men," Russo said.

Alwin M. Pappenheimer Jr. '29, Master of Dunster House, told the Faculty Committee on Houses in December that there would be a woman tutor in Dunster House. "Since this obviously sets a precedent for the other Houses, the other Masters had to be consulted," Pappenheimer said.

Miss Kearns took a leave of absence in 1967 to serve as a White House fellow to Willard Wirtz, Secretary of Labor.

The White House fellowships, a program started by President Kennedy, brings to Washington a small number of young leaders in business, education, and law to become familiar with a Cabinet Office.

Last spring, Miss Kearns began to work for President Johnson's own office as a consultant on experimental programs dealing with American youth.

When notified by Pappenheimer that she would be able to be a resident tutor, Miss Kearns replied in a letter that she would be "ready to move in on a day's notice.