Talk of the Campus : Palimony Suit Against Founder a Source of Humor at Harvey Mudd

At prestigious Harvey Mudd College, the bedroom exploits of the school’s late founder are vying with logarithms and the DNA helix as a hot topic of conversation this fall.

Students at the top-ranked science and engineering school in Claremont have posted newspaper clippings on their dorm walls, some sent cross-country by parents, recounting the tawdry details of a $5-million palimony lawsuit--now being played out in Los Angeles Superior Court--against Henry T. Mudd by Eleanor L. Oliver, 41, a former stripper who was one of Mudd’s seven mistresses.

“That’s good old Henry; most of us think it’s kind of funny,” said Stephan Zuercher, 19, a sophomore engineering student, as he sat cross-legged in Galileo Hall.

Just 10 feet away stood a bronze bust of Mudd who, with his mother, founded the school in 1955 in memory of his father.

Under the bust reads the legend: “Henry Thomas Mudd, co-founder, guiding spirit, generous benefactor, member of Board of Trustees 1955, Chairman of the Board 1958-1981.”

“I hadn’t known much about him,” Zuercher mused, “except that he was really wealthy. But it’s the type of thing you don’t expect--that the founder had several mistresses and is being sued.”

Last week, Betty Olend, another former mistress, testified in court that she met Mudd in 1971 while working as a prostitute. Olend said Mudd paid her $4,500 a month to play hostess at parties and prepare his home for his “dates.” Olend said Mudd, then in his 70s, spent one evening a week with each of his seven mistresses.

“I’m impressed,” said Andrew Hughes, an 18-year-old physics student. “This guy was over 70. Just think of what he was like at 40.”

Oliver, who was 36 years younger than Mudd, claims she had an agreement with Mudd to provide him wife-like companionship. In return, she says, he showered her with lavish gifts, support of $8,400 per month and exotic vacations.

Oliver’s suit contends that Mudd agreed to set up a trust giving her lifetime support and allowed her to stay in a $600,000 house in Studio City. She alleges that Mudd reneged on the contract after he married Vanessa Mudd--another of his mistresses--in 1990. He died several months later at age 77.

At Harvey Mudd College, none of the students interviewed were offended by the antics of the founder of their elite, 616-student school, which was ranked this year as the nation’s top engineering specialty college by U.S. News and World Report.

“It’s not like it’s going to put a blemish on the school,” said Valerie Barron, an 18-year-old biology student. “People make fun of it. It’s kind of a joke. My parents’ friends say, ‘Oh, your daughter goes to that school.’ ”

At least one student believes the sordid tale may actually swell the number of entrance applications.

“This just adds to the novelty of the school. It’s publicity, and all publicity is good publicity,” said David Brody, a 20-year-old engineering student. “I think the only concern students have is if it would affect the Mudd Trust, but there are protections against that,” Brody surmised.

Harvey Mudd College officials declined to answer questions about the case.

“While that matter’s in litigation, we can’t comment on it at all,” said Julie Quinn, the school’s director of college relations.

But Patricia Coleman, Harvey Mudd dean of admissions, said, “Out in the field, I really haven’t heard anything” to indicate the school is gaining salacious notice among high school seniors.

The scandal appeared to rouse some school pride in Dan Hugo, a 21-year-old engineering student who was monitoring a pinball game in a dorm lounge one morning this week.

“It’s not at all like Stanford, where they’re spending all this money on the boat,” Hugo said in defense of his college. He referred to the Stanford financial scandal where top administrators used federal funds to pay for luxury personal items.

In any event, said Michelle Cloud, 19, a biology major: “We haven’t come up with any specific jokes yet. People are too busy studying.”