National Recruitment Program Chicanos Use Office to Expand

Harvard is providing office facilities for an undergraduate recruitment program designed to expand the number and geographical distribution of Chicano applicants, Beverly Lacero '76, who runs the program, said yesterday.

Lucero said Nancy L. Moore, assistant director of the Student Employment Office, has given Raza, the Harvard-Radcliffe undergraduate Chicano organization, postage, telephone and photocopy privileges.

The number of Chicano students currently at Harvard-Radcliffe is about 50, Lucero said yesterday. Last year there were 46.

Chicanos have traditionally applied only from Texas and California, Lucero said yesterday, adding that recruitment to date has been limited to individual students' efforts in their home communities.

Lucero said she hopes to use the new office facilities to contact a number of state school superintendents to obtain figures on schools' ethnic composition. With this information she will seek permanent local contacts who would encourage Chicano students to apply to Harvard, she said.

Lucero's office will also coordinate recruitment of American Indians.

A Chicano group called Poder, with members from a number of eastern colleges, provided the strongest previous recruitment effort. Last November six Harvard-Radcliffe students traveled to Los Angeles and San Antonio, Texas to recruit Chicanos through a Poder-organized program.

But according to Adalberto Garcia '75, president of Raza, a lack of funds crippled Poder, and the results of its programs have been disappointing. The organization is now seriously considering disbanding, Garcia said yesterday.

"We talked about the new office space in May," Gracia said yesterday. He said Lucero began work there in August.

In addition to its recruitment programs, Raza hopes to publish a booklet for Chicanos interested in Harvard, Garcia said yesterday.