Diverse and Distinct

Last week's selection of new Lowell House co-Masters Diana Eck and Dorothy Austin is a positive step for a University that purports to value undergraduate education, the quality of House life and diversity. We congratulate the University for seeking out the best for undergraduates without fear of possible public criticism.

We are confident that Eck and Austin will be a positive addition to the Lowell House community and will work hard to fulfill the high expectations created by William and Mary Lee Bossert's successful tenure. We have high hopes that they will continue many of the House traditions that have endeared the current masters to residents past and present.

Eck's demonstrated interest in under-graduate education and popularity as a professor make her selection particularly appropriate. Her high CUE Guide scores are a mere reflection of Her devotion to the life of the mind in undergraduates. The attention she devotes to her classes is an auspicious sign that Lowell House will be in good hands. Austin's work at Drew University should also provide a useful outside perspective on life at Harvard.

We anticipate that Harvard will be criticized for "quota-filling" and violating "traditional" norms of morality in making this choice. We reject both of these objections as groundless. As a College, we are fortunate that diversity and qualification are wedded in the same choice. We congratulate the University for finding the best candidates for the job regardless of sexual orientation. Hopefully the quality of Eck and Austin as scholars and community leaders will demonstrate to skeptics within the University and to national observers that sexual orientation is irrelevant to job performance.

The first selection of a same-sex couple for this prestigious post should serve as encouragement and assurance to members of the Harvard and national communities--regardless of their sexual orientation--that the University is ready and willing to stand behind its non-discrimination policy.