Record of Class of '61 Called Disappointing

Only 35.3 per cent of last year's Freshmen made Dean's List in June, a "serious" drop of over seven per cent from the class of '60, according to the annual report on the Freshman year which was released yesterday. Dean von Stade called the drop "disappointing and, to a great extent, baffling." Not since 1948 has a Freshman class has a smaller percentage in Group III or above.

Defending his admissions' policy, Dean Bender said yesterday that "I do not think we should judge the success or failure of our policy on a single shift like this." The class of '61, he noted, "has many people who are very interesting, but also risky and erratic."

The students who flunk out "are certainly not dumbbells," said Bender. "They are often very useful, fine, intelligent people, who have a problem adjusting to the Harvard environment." He pointed out that the seven per cent drop is "only one class--an isolated situation, not a trend."

Furthermore, in the Admission and Scholarship Newsletter, Bender questioned the meaningfulness of the statistics. "Are the measures we use for prediction, particularly College Board scores, drifting slightly so that a 650 score today is not as 'good' as a 650 four years ago? Or are the faculty raising their standard for grades, or failing to rise to the challenge of an abler student body?" he asked.

Fred L. Glimp '50, Director of Freshman Scholarships, asserted that a high score on the College Boards is only a prerequisite for admissions, not a deciding factor. "We do not necessarily assume that a very high score automatically means a very good candidate," he said. "There are many other factors."

Also commenting was Von Stade, who said, "We have very little knowledge about what motivates a student to do well." Citing the Asian Flu epidemic last fall as one "minor" reason for the drop, he commented that "perhaps the remarkable thing is not last year's drop, but the consistent rise for five years before that."