Radcliffe President Mary I. Bunting announced yesterday that she has accepted a position as special assistant to the President of Princeton University, beginning in November 1972.

Bunting, who retires from Radcliffe this June at the age of 62, will assist incoming Princeton President William Bowen in the area of special projects.

"I will be dealing with questions like community access to the University, curriculum changes, guidance for undergraduates, and the relationship between Princeton and the state university system," Bunting said.

Bunting's appointment will be for three years and 3/4 time instead of full time, and will not involve any teaching.

"I received a lot of offers from other Universities, but they were mostly for high involvement administrative posts," Bunting said. "What attracted me to the Princeton offer is that I will have a great deal of freedom to work in a number of areas and I seem to like the people I'll be working with."

Mountain Climbing

Bunting said that she expects to have contact with undergraduate women at Princeton, but stressed that working with women will not be one of her prime responsibilities.

Bunting said she did not consider remaining at Harvard, even if a part time appointment could be arranged, "because I want my successor to have a clean slate to work with." She decided to retire last February because "I'm not interested in running things anymore."

Bunting expects to spend the summer climbing in the White Mountains. "Every year the summer comes around and I think how lovely it would be to go climbing," she said, "but this is the first summer I'll have time to do it. I'm really looking forward to the experience."

Bunting has been Radcliffe President since 1960. A special Search Committee is currently reviewing candidates to succeed Bunting and expects to make recommendations to the Radcliffe Board of Trustees and the Corporation within the next month.