Winthrop House Senior Tutor Will Resign

The Winthrop senior tutor plans to resign from his position at the end of this month when he will be replaced temporarily by the current assistant senior tutor, House officials said yesterday.

M. Lee Pelton, senior tutor of Winthrop House and lecturer on English, will leave the Harvard position he has held since 1981 to become Dean of Students at Colgate College in Maine, he said.

"It is an inevitable step for me in my interests," Pelton said. "It is time to move to a position that offers broader management responsibilities." Pelton was a resident tutor in English in Kirkland House for three years before his senior tutor appointment.

Christine M. Flug, assistant senior tutor in Winthrop House will replace Pelton as acting senior tutor for the academic year '86-'87, said Martha H. Davis, co-master of Winthrop House.

Flug's appointment is only temporary because "Winthrop House has a longstanding tradition of involving students in tutorial appointments," and students are not available in the summer to contribute their opinions, Pelton said.

Flug will be among the contenders for senior tutor when the final decision is made some time next year, said Davis. Other possible choices to fill the office are not yet known, she said.

Winthrop House officials praised Pelton Highly and said they would miss him. "No matter what the circumstances were that brought someone into contact with him, they found he is absolutely fair and strightforward, a wonderful listener," said Davis. "We were very fortunate to have him with us for five years."

Davis said that she was looking forward to working with flug in the coming year. "She knows her p's and q's," said Davis. "The passing of the torch should be easy."

Flug, who has held the position of assistant senior tutor since 1982, said she is "eager to do a good job in the next year," adding that she doesn't "have any plans to change anything." She refused to comment on her chances for becoming senior tutor permanently.