"There is no question that few people have been as dedicated to maintaining and supporting the house system as he has," Jewett says.

"He's an incredible conservative," says Robert S. Bikel '91, who directed one of Eliot's public service programs. "He sees the house as being a family of which he is the head. He is reluctant to see the House character change."

Yet Suzanne C. Oaks '91, who agrees that "Master Heimert is very much a paternal figure in the house," says she sees that position differently. "I think that they're being very progressive in meeting the students needs," Oaks says, referring to both Heimerts.

Accepting Changes

Despite Heimert's opposition to randomization, Jewett says the Eliot master has "never stood in the way of changes that had to be made."

And Kaplan agrees, pointing to Heimert's "kegerator" tradition. Each year, Kaplan says, the master auctions off the device--a refrigerator with a carbon dioxide tank--to a group of seniors, insisting that they only serve "foreign ale."

But this time, Kaplan explains, the group is serving Old Milwaukee. "He's upset about it," Kaplan says of Heimert, "but he's seen a lot of changes in his day and he's learned to accept them."

Heimert's involvement with Eliot extends to academics, and this year, as in the past, he offers a house section of English 70, "American Literature From the Beginning to the Twentieth Century."

Having chaired the English, History and History and Literature Departments, as well as the doctoral program in the History of American Civilization, Heimert is a preeminent professor of seventeenth century America, his colleagues say.

"That has been his most significant contribution," says Michael W. Anesko, associate professor of History and Literature, who is affiliated with Eliot House. "Being a master has just been a natural extension of being a part of the community."

Senior Tutor Bacon says Heimert's work as a professor and his interest in traditional intellectualism prove that his stands on house life are more than just "political battles."

"He is morally fierce about intellectual excellence," Bacon says.

Life Before Harvard

Although he has spent a great many years at Harvard and raised two children here (a Yale first-year and a Stanford sophomore), Heimert says he never planned on life as an academic.

In fact, as a junior in high school, before recruiters came to his suburban Chicago high school, Heimert had only read about Harvard in the history books.