New Dean of Graduate School Will Be Third in Three Years

The Faculty's parliamentary expert, Burton S. Dreben '49, will take on far greater responsibilities this Fall when he assumes the deanship of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Dreben, professor of Philosophy, takes the reins of the GSAS from Edward T. Wilcox, who served as acting dean last year.

Wilcox succeeded the controversial and much-magligned R. Victor Jones. Jones resigned a year ago after a difficult year marked by a graduate student work stoppage.

The graduate students formed a union when the GSAS announced that a tuition scholarship program would be discontinued. But despite a union membership of almost 2000 graduate students, the union failed in its efforts to reinstate the program.

But it was John T. Dunlop, then dean of the Faculty and now head of President Nixon's Cost of Living Council, who rebuffed the union, not Jones.

Jones' successor, Wilcox, had union problems last year, but unlike his successor, he handled the irate grad students calmly. The union, with a membership of only 600, had recruiting problems, and despite a three-day strike, never attracted the support it received the previous year.

Financial Tailspin

Dreben inherits a graduate school in the midst of a financial tailspin. The graduate students have felt the pinch more than others, and have responded with a demand to see the GSAS budget to determine for themselves the extent of the crisis.

Dreben also will serve as associated dean for Graduate Education. That post will bring Dreben into direct contact with the grad students on the issue of financing graduate education.

Parliamentary Expert

The professor of Philosophy is well-known throughout the Faculty as an expert on Parliamentary procedure. Faculty members are familiar with the sight of Dreben popping up from his front row seat to explain the proper procedure to the uninterested Faculty.

This Fall, Dreben will move from that front row seat to the seat directly to the left of President Bok, and he may find that seat slightly more uncomfortable than his old one.

The issue of financing graduate education undoubtedly will arise again this year, and Dreben's knowledge of parliamentary procedure is not likely to assist him as GSAS dean.