House Takes Black Tutors

The first black tutors to live in a Harvard house for 13 years will be residents in Winthrop House next year, Bruce Chalmers, Master of Winthrop House, said yesterday.

Henry C. Binford '66, who is in his second year at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, will be a tutor in history. Binford said that he was "looking forward" to living in Winthrop House during his first year as a tutor. He added that he was only "normally apprehensive" about the job.

Gregory K. Pilkington '67, a student at Harvard Law School and currently a proctor in Hollis Hall, will also be a tutor in Winthrop House next year. In addition to regular tutorial duties, Pilkington will be the House librarian.

The last black tutor to reside in a house was James L. Gibbs Jr., who was a resident in Adams House in 1955-56. Although none of the houses have had black resident tutors for the last 13 years, black graduate students are currently associated with many of the houses as tutors. Besides Pilkington, there are two other black proctors in the freshman dormitories.

Chalmers stressed that the two men were chosen for the job because of their qualifications. Pilkington and Binford "will be tutors, who happen to be black," he said. Both of the future tutors lived in Winthrop House as undergraduates.

Other houses are considering black graduate students as tutors for next year, but no other appointments have yet been made.