Class of '82 Might Get Undergraduate Advisers

A group of students from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania is currently organizing the introduction of undergraduate advisers for freshmen at Harvard beginning next fall, Arthur J. Kyriazis '80, organizer of the drive, said yesterday.

The proposed system, "Students Helping Students," differs from the one currently used by the Freshman Task Force in that it would assign freshmen to upperclass advisers in small groups of about eight, he added.

The program, which is not yet formally recognized by Harvard, would assign freshmen according to fields of interest and would aim to "offer freshmen immediate upperclass advice" with regard to academics and life at Harvard in general, Kyriazis said.

In the first day of door-to-door recruiting, more than 150 upperclassmen yesterday applied for the 200 adviser positions, Leonard H. Ginsberg, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania who initiated the program there and is helping to set it up at Harvard, said yesterday.

The organization will probably become a subcommittee of the Student Association when it begins to meet next fall, Michael A. Calabrese '79, former chairman of the Constitutional Convention, said yesterday.

The administration will not express its views on the status of the proposed organization until it receives more details about the committee, Henry C. Moses, dean of freshmen, said yesterday. A source close to Moses, however, said yesterday, "I have a feeling when it comes around to being recognized, they'll come up against more of a fence than they think from him."

The source, who asked to remain unidentified, said Moses' principal objection may be that undergraduate advisers would offer suggestions inconsistent with those of freshman proctors and department advisers and might therefore confuse the student.

Most undergraduates contacted yesterday said they thought the proposal was a good one.

"If I had had an upperclassman advising me freshman year, I would have done a lot of things differently, like choose another major. All my adviser did was sign my study card," Jean B. Sitko '79, who applied to be an upperclass adviser, said yesterday.

Andrew V.R. Pearce '79 said yesterday he supports the proposal because "there are things an undergraduate will tell you that a proctor or administrator will not tell you because they have a stake in the University."