"We all regret very much that the Herlihys areleaving," Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57said yesterday. "They've been exceptional housemasters. We'll miss them a great deal."
"Professor Herlihy has been a very successfulteacher here," said History Department ChairmanAngeliki E. Laiou. "He is an eminent scholar.Obviously, his departure will be a loss to thedepartment."
Laiou added that the department has not yetlaunched a search for a scholar to replaceHerlihy. "Harvard has had a long, distinguishedtradition in medieval history," she said. "We'lltry to continue that tradition."
During their 10 years as masters, the Herlihysacquired what Patricia Herlihy called a"kaleidoscope of experience."
In their tenure the pair has had to battle whatmany termed "intolerable" overcrowding in thehouse's 55-suite low rise. Largely throughPatricia Herlihy's initiative, the student-facultyCommittee on House Life last year devised a planto spread the burden of crowding more evenly amongthe 12 residential houses.
In addition to serving on the housingcommittee, the Herlihys have served as facultyadvisors to the Harvard-Radcliffe Gay and LesbianStudents Association (GLSA) and the CatholicStudents' Center.
"They are perhaps the most open people I've methere at Harvard," said Mather resident JakeStevens '86, former president of the GLSA. "Asadministrators, they have a basic sense offairness that I've haven't found much aroundhere."
Many Mather residents will remember theHerlihys best as the hosts of the annual SophomoreOuting, in which the masters take the housenewcomers to their home in Hull, Mass. "It was ablast, one of the best experiences I've had atHarvard," said Arthur M. Mandel '88, of hisweekend of "raucous, crazy sophomore fun."
The college must now go about the lengthyprocess of selecting new masters for both Currierand Mather Houses.
"We'll set up a process by which we'll try tocommunicate with students in the Houses and try toelicit suggestions and comments," Jewett said.After a committee of administrators selectscandidates, President Derek C. Bok will make thefinal decision. The search has been launched forthe Currier masters.
"I hope they let us have some say in choosingthe new masters," said Matherite Vivian T. Pan'88. "I'm sorry the Herlihys are leaving."
Said Patricia Herlihy: "I've invited so manyMather students down to Providence, we'll haveopen houses down there!"