Survey Finds Freshmen in Political Center

Most college freshmen consider themselves at the center of the political spectrum, according to a survey released by the American Council on Education.

Freshmen at 374 two-year and four-year colleges around the country answered the survey.

The percentage of freshmen who said they hoped to be "very well off financially" rose from 40.1 per cent to 58.2 per cent in the last decade, the survey found.

Harvard freshmen interviewed yesterday all said they thought the survey's findings accurately reflect the political leanings of the Class of '81.

Job Market

"The majority of the freshmen I know are very worried about the job market," Teresa Dulac '81 said yesterday.

"I don't know how they stand on political issues," Dulac said. "Most of them are so concerned with academics that they never discuss politics outside of Gov sections."

Dulac added that she thinks job security is a more important factor than academic interest in freshmen's course choices.

"There's nothing that people really give a shit about outside of themselves," said Jeffrey B. Hoyt '81, Committee on Housing and Undergraduate Life representative for the freshman class, said yesterday. "They're not willing to give time to anything that doesn't touch them directly."

"There are some freshmen liberals and they seem to have drifted together--not politically, but socially," he added.

"Maybe the reason freshmen appear more conservative is that what was considered liberal five years ago is commonplace today," one Yard dormitory proctor said.

W. Burris Young '55, associate dean of freshmen, said yesterday, "I don't think freshman year is when you see much political formation."

Much of the class's political orientation occurs while they are here, Young said, adding, "That's the way it was in the time of the troubles and I don't see any reason to believe it's any different today."

Archie C. Epps III, dean of students, said he thought the survey was consistent with increased interest in the professions among Harvard students.

In addition to being substantially less liberal than they were a decade ago, freshmen are generally less politically active, Epps said.

Good Education

"Most of the freshmen I've talked to said they came to Harvard because they wanted a good education," one proctor, who disagreed with the statement that freshmen are more concerned with financial security than ever, before, said.

"Maybe when I was a freshman in 1970 people were less willing to admit it, but financial security is always a concern with everyone," the proctor, who asked to remain unidentified, said.

Susan W. Lewis, assistant dean of freshmen, said she thought job security was a major concern of freshmen.

"More of them have had personal experience with parents, slblings and friends who can't find jobs" than earlier generations of students, she said.