Minority Students Intern In Administration Offices

In a move designed to lure talented minority administrators to Harvard, the University recently instituted an internship program that places minority undergraduates in posts throughout the administration.

Under the program--an expanded version of a pilot program initiated last spring--the students spend about ten hours a week working on projects for the Office of the Arts, the Foundation, the University's energy coordinator, and several other Harvard offices.

Thomas E. Crooks, special assistant to Dean Rosovsky and originator of the program, said administrators first discussed the internships after the release last spring of a study on minority and women in the Faculty, which Rosovsky commissioned Crooks to write.

"The University has had a terrible time getting minorities in both the Faculty and administration," Crooks said, adding that the study as well as "the actions of the Black Students Association and other minority students brought the question to the forefront of everybody's mind."

"I told [Dean Fox] he has the best Black students right here under his nose, and suggested that we do something about getting them interested in the administration," Crooks said.

Six students are currently participating in the program. Last year three interns worked in offices around the University.

The program was intended to engage the students in meaningful projects rather than clerical work, Mack I. Davis, director of advanced standing, who joined Crooks in setting up the program, said last week.

Even if many of the students decide not to continue working at Harvard after they graduate, "we will have an applicant pool of people who know something about how the College works," he added.

Kermit Billips '83, an intern in the office of the energy coordinator, said last week his experience analyzing data and working on energy conservation problems has been "very positive."