Officials Pleased With New Admissions

Monday morning's mail will hold good news for 2152 of the more than 11,000 applicants for the Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1980.

"It would be great to get a candid camera at the homes as the letters are opened," one of the workers at the Byerly Hall admissions office said yesterday, as final checks were being made on the letters.

The selection of the Class of 1980--the first picked by a joint Harvard-Radcliffe admissions staff with a new "equal-access" admissions policy--has been a somewhat controversial process. Alumni groups have been firmly opposed to any decrease in the number of undergraduate men here.

William R. Fitzsimmons, director of admissions, said yesterday that he is nevertheless pleased with the "surprisingly enthusiastic efforts of alumni to recruit in their local areas.

Fitzsimmons said one alumnus who was originally "adamant" in opposition to equal-access admissions later wrote that he was "seduced, charmed and turned around" in his thinking after an interview with a female applicant.

Special Packages

For the first time, special packages containing course catalogues and other material were sent this year to those students who received a 'likely' early evaluation. All students sent 'likely s' this year by Harvard were admitted, L. Fred Jewett '57, dean of admissions and financial aid, said yesterday.

In addition, accepted students will receive calls this week from alumni recruiters, Undergraduate Admissions Council members, and minority group organizations on campus, encouraging them to accept admission to the college.

Last year between 70 and 75 per cent of those admitted actually enrolled, Fitzsimmons said.

Women applicants to the Class of 1980 will be the first women to receive the italicized, personal "certificate of admission" that Harvard students have been receiving for the past few years.

Fitzsimmons said that some people feel the certificate is "offensive" and "overdone," but it shows, he added, "that we are not running a conveyor-belt operation here."

It takes David Loeb '76 almost three weeks to italicize each of the 2152 admissions certificates, Fitzsimmons added.