CUT IN ADMISSION MEETS APPROVAL

Among the various comments upon the recent action of the University in limiting the enrollment of the future Freshman classes, comes the following editorial from the New York Times, lauding the action taken by the University authorities:

"Harvard has now placed itself, upon the lengthening list of colleges that require something more than the test of a written examination. Its reputation for snobbishness has never been altogether just. Admittedly its system of undergraduate clubs is unduly favorable to men from the fashionable preparatory schools; but the policy of the Faculty has been steadily democratic. Since the Civil War negroes of ability have been welcomed--with the result that Southern white students have preferred other institutions. Latterly President Lowell has resisted pressure from graduates who deprecate the increasing proportion of Jewish students; he has insisted upon full recognition of industry and ability. In 1922, when this pressure was first severely felt, the Board of Overseers passed a resolution that the traditional Harvard policy of freedom from racial or religious discrimination should be maintained; and, in announcing the present reform, the authorities point out that this policy is to be in no wise impaired.

Tests Wholly Individual

"The additional entrance tests are wholly individual--a question of what the applicant is qualified to contribute to and to receive from undergraduate life. The "commuting" student will not be favored unless of exceptional scholastic ability. Living at home, his activity at Cambridge is generally confined to library, laboratory and lecture room, so that he is unable to become an effective part of the college tradition in many important manifestations. Also, the Entrance Board will use every available source of knowledge as to the applicant's personality and character-- statements from his preparatory teachers and from acquaintances, not relatives, even a photograph.

"Only by such means can the Freshman class be kept within the limit of 1,000, the maximum which the college is able to instruct effectively and to assimilate socially. The practical result of the discrimination against commuters will probably be to excude some of the less able among the young men who come from the Jewish quarter of Boston; but President Lowell, while standing as always against mere racial discrimination, is convinced that it is justified. Of late years there has been an antagonistic grouping of undergraduates as prejudicial to the members of the group as to the college. The purpose of education, he has said, is to break down the barrier of race and draw the individual into the main stream of American life and thought, and this can be most effectively done when the normal racial proportions are preserved.

Step Considered Admirable Solution

"By and large our colleges are dealing with a new and highly perplexing phase of democracy. That young men differ in the ability to pass written examinations we have long frankly recognized. That they differ as widely in personality and character we are now forced to admit by the inadequacy of our resources to deal with the rising tide of applicants for admission. In an era of much confusion and threatened chaos it is indispensable that the amenities no less than the intellectualities be concentrated and conserved, the highest character and traditions of American life. The means adopted by Harvard seem admirably calculated to accomplish this while avoiding the un-Americanism of racial or religious discrimination.