Keeping Track ...

For the second time in less then a month, affirmative action has become a point of contention at the Law School. Three weeks ago the Law Faculty ended a year-long debate by accepting a modified affirmative action plan adopted by the Law Review. Now a coalition of minority student organizations is urging the admissions office and administration to take similar steps.

In a statement given to Law School Dean James Vorenberg '49 and other administrators last week, the Third World Coalition urged that representatives of Third World organizations be allowed to participate in the admissions process and that greater emphasis be placed on the hiring of minority professors.

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Most Harvard undergraduates have never doubted the existence of the pre-med syndrome, but a recent study conducted by two Medical School graduates has drawn wide attention to the fact.

In a report to the Medical School Alumni Council, Dr. Edward H. Ahrens '37 and Dr. Carlton M. Akins '62, charge that strict science course requirements and general Medical School admissions policies have created an "undesirable atmosphere" for pre-medical students at Harvard.

"Deterrents to creativity, ingenuity, inventiveness and curiousity" are built into the medical school admissions system, the report concludes.

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As most Harvard sports fans will attest, Lady Luck has always kept better watch over the Crimson baseball team than its colleague, the basketball squad.

That favoritism was demonstrated again last week when the batsmen opened their spring practice in the newly renovated Briggs Cage.

Harvard officials had originally hoped to complete the $2.5 million renovation project last November--in time for the basketball team to play its winter season in the building--but construction strikes and problems with the design delayed the project.

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Glenn C. Loury, a University of Michigan economist, accepted a joint appointment to the Economics and Afro-American Studies Department last week, making him the third senior faculty member in Afro-Am and one of a handful of tenured Blacks on the Harvard faculty.

A specialist in microeconomic theory, labor economics and industrial organization, Loury said he plans to teach an undergraduate course that addresses Afro-American issues from an economic perspective.

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Pre-professionalism took one step forward and one step back last week as admissions officials reported that the number of Law School applications is up almost 10 percent, while the member of applicants to the Medical School has dropped by an equivalent percentage.

The Business School--which this year has taken steps to limit the number of applicants--reported a slight drop in prospective students. The school no longer accepts applicants who take the GMAT as late as the March testing date, saying that people who delay taking the exam generally are less qualified anyway.

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Katherine Graham, chairman and chief executive officer of the Washington Post, will be M.I.T.'s commencement speaker this year.

Graham, who served as the Post's publisher from 1969-1979, will be the first outside speaker at an M.I.T. commencement in nearly two decades. For the last 18 years, the Institute's president has been the commencement speaker.

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Harvard tuition is rising fast, but not as quickly as the salaries of top Harvard Real Estate (HRE) Administrators, State tax forms filed recently by HRE indicate jumps of $16,000 for HRE President Sally Zeckhauser, $10,000 for Treasurer S. Michael Hawe; and $17,000 for Vice President Robert Silverman. A leader of the Harvard Tenants' Union called the 1981 salary hikes "outstanding."