Franklin L. Ford, dean of the Faculty since 1962, will resign as dean next June. Ford, who already is scheduled to take a sabbatical leave next Spring, announced his permanent resignation at yesterday's Faculty meeting.

There was no immediate announcement of a successor. Initial speculation centered on John T. Dunlop. Wells Professor of Economies, who will take Ford's place as acting dean during the Spring.

After his sabbatical. Ford will return to the Harvard Faculty, where his specialty has been European history.

In a long statement to the Faculty explaining his decision, Ford said he is resigning for personal reasons-primarily to continue his career as a historian.

His duties as dean have been "demanding and almost endlessly distracting," Ford said. After several years in the position, he said. "the decision to complete one's career as a professor must be faced squarely."

(The full text of Ford's statement appears on page 5 of today's CRIMSON.)

Ford discounted any political reasons behind his decision. "In a highly politicized atmosphere, any such action is likely to appear political in motivation," he said. "It is not."

But Ford admitted that the increasingly political tone of Faculty debate in the last year has made his position less attractive.

"It would be a rare individual indeed who could enjoy listening, on a series of Tuesday afternoons, to what, in my view, is becoming excessively glib and insufficiently examined rhetoric concerning 'confidence.' 'authority.' and 'legitimacy,' without regard to certain other matters of some moment," he said.

Ford added that some of the Faculty's debates have dealt with his own "alleged qualities of mind and character" and have caused him "quick flashes of pain and incredulity."

Most of these debates have come in the last year when the Faculty has rejected or altered proposals from Ford or from such bodies as the Administrative Board and the Committee on Educational Policy (CEP).

Punishments for Paine

Last January, after a student sit-in cancelled a Faculty meeting in Paine Hall, the Faculty voted for lighter punishment for the demonstrators than the Ad Board had recommended. In February, the Faculty passed a ROTC resolution that was more explicitly political than one proposed by the CEP.

In its series of emergency meetings last April. the Faculty consistently chose floor resolutions on ROTC and Afro-American studies instead of more traditional positions supported by Ford and other administrators.

At several of those meetings. Ford had sharp exchanges with Faculty members who questioned his view of the events-for instance, his report that one floor of Emerson Hall was "occupied" by SDS members printing posters.

New Dean to Serve Until Pusey Departs

Dunlop's age and distinction in other fields makes it seem unlikely that he would want to stay on as dean after Pusey leaves. And the experience he will get as acting dean next Spring makes him the logical choice to step in.