Five House masters told Harvard's presidential search committee last month that whoever leads the University once Neil L. Rudenstine steps down ought to make the College a high priority.

The masters, who will brief their colleagues today on the discussion, met the committee at Loeb House on Sept. 25. All masters and co-masters were invited to the dinner, but only a small number were able to attend.

As they ate salmon and drank mourvedre, a wine from Southeast France, the guests engaged in what Currier House Master William A. Graham Jr. called a fruitful "exchange of thoughts and ideas."

Search committee chair Robert G. Stone Jr. '45 began the conversation by inquiring about the qualities the masters would like to see in the new president.

Tom C. Conley, the Kirkland House master, stressed the importance of continued support for the humanities in a new president. His wife, Kirkland Co-Master Verena A. Conley, stressed the importance information technology in the University's future.

Although a number of specific individuals, including Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67, were mentioned over the course of the evening, the search committee members did not direct the conversation toward particular candidates.

"They were not sounding us out on their candidates," Graham said. "They were asking us for candidates."

Much of the discussion of specific individuals revolved around successful former university presidents who can serve as models for the new president, but are not candidates for the job themselves. Those mentioned included Nannerl O. Keohane, the president of Duke, and Hannah Gray, former president of the University of Chicago and a member of the Harvard search committee.

A number of masters who were not able to make the meeting spoke separately with search committee members and staff.

Lowell House Master Diana L. Eck met with search committee member Herbert S. "Pug" Winokur '64-'65 and Quincy House Master Michael Shinagel met with Mark C. Goodheart, secretary to the Corporation and a key search aide.

Shinagel said that undergraduate housing should be a priority for the new administration.

"The main concern we've had has been overcrowding in the Harvard housing," he said.

Shinagel added that he felt the recently concluded $2.6 billion Capital Campaign did not include the houses.

"There ought to be some attention paid to undergraduates," he said.

M. Suzanne McCarthy, co-master of Pforzheimer House, said, "I was there to contribute what I could for undergraduate living, education and life--to emphasize the College within in the University structure."