Harvard Hiring Report Discloses No Figures

Harvard has released a 12-page "summary statement" of the affirmative action plan it submitted to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare last month, detailing some of the provisions of the programs by which it intends to expand its hiring of minorities and women.

The summary is an abstract of the longer affirmative action plan-which HEW accepted early in February-with some target figures and specific information omitted. Edward S. Wright, assistant to the President for Minority Affairs, said yesterday.

Unlike Tufts, which, on February 22, released data on its hiring practices broken down into figures for "job families" of skilled and unskilled positions, Harvard has not released any figures on its current practices or the increases it hopes to achieve under this plan.

The statement contains few specific provisions about the number of minority group members or women that the University currently hires or plans to hire. But it does pledge the University to take concrete steps about unspecified instances of sexual and racial bias in hiring practices. These include:

retroactive pay for women employees who have been paid salaries lower than those of men doing the same work. This provision is a commitment in principle, Wright said, HEW is still investigating the specific charges of discrimination in pay, and has not confirmed any yet.

equalizing salaries for all women employees immediately.

instituting equal hiring and application practices for all positions.

increasing the number of women holding academic positions by involving more women in the selection process. Regular reports will be submitted to deans of departments of the numbers of women applicants for tenured and non-tenured posts and the reasons why applications from women have been rejected.

Although the report concedes that "Harvard University has only a small representation of minority group persons in academic positions," its provisions for increasing minority hiring are considered less specific.

Wright said yesterday that the retroactive pay requirement does not yetapply to cases of racial discrimination in payment because the precedent under which the HEW investigators are operating stems from a plan filed by the University of Michigan which required back pay. No such precedent has been set for minorities yet, he said.

Internal Procedure

The release lists a number of internal mechanisms by which the University will monitor its hiring of minorities and women. These include a University-wide salary survey, which has been in progress since Fall of 1969, and is expected to be completed by June 30.

The plan also states that the University Personnel Office will circulate quarterly audits of its "employment profile" along with an analysis by the Office for Minority Affairs.

The statement cites Wright as the officer with final responsibilities for insuring University compliance with the two Presidential orders-Executive Orders No. 11246 and 11375-which outlaw discrimination on the basis of race or sex by any institution contracting with the Federal Government.

Think Tank

His efforts will be coordinated, it says, by the University Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, a group composed of deans or their representatives, which holds monthly meetings. In addition, Wright will set up an informal committee of women and members of minority groups to act as a "sounding board and think tank" about implementation of the program.

The report ends with a brief summary of already-established Harvard programs designed to increase the number of women and minority groups employed at Harvard and on Harvard-related projects. These include Harvard's attempts to increase the number of black subcontractors on Harvard building projects, the controversial Apprenticeship Program which recommends for promotion groups of minority workers in the Department of Buildings and Grounds, and the two University committees-one at the School of Education and one at the College and GSAS-which have explored the status of women at the University.

HEW has accepted the affirmative action plan on which yesterday's statement is based. HEW's specific findings about race and sex discrimination will be incorporated into the report as they appear.