A Distressing Drop

THE FINAL STATISTICS last spring for the Class of 1986 included one big surprise. In contrast to acceptance figures--which showed that students of all minority groups had been accepted in numbers comparable to those of previous years--only 97 Black students had actually decided to come to Harvard a 23 per cent drop The figures were particularly disturbing by contrast with those for other minority groups--all of which yielded totals the same as or slightly higher than in past years and with Yale and Princeton, neither of which experienced such a drop.

The admissions office responded this year by stepping up minority recruiting for the Class of '87, surveying all students who turned Harvard down to find out their reasons and--learning that financial considerations were somewhat more important for minorities by providing more financial aid information. But as the Class of '87 takes shape it is clear that these measures have not worked. Final figures show only that the number of Blacks who accepted Harvard's offer of admission is not much better than last year' showing. Other groups continue to how no dramatic changes.

With this distressing statistic showing signs of becoming a trend the admissions office and the College as a whole must now confront some of the larger issues it glossed over last spring. As concerned Black student leaders pointed out then more than one year with a low number of Black students could visibly diminish the "critical mass" of Blacks on campus, in turn worsening any negative race relations image Harvard may have in the outside world.

If Harvard does have a serious image problem as far as Black-white relations on campus go--and the stats, peculiar to Harvard leave less and less doubt of it--then added admissions publicity and recruiting will not help. Indeed, some student minority recruiters have said this year that they have mis-givings about recruiting other minorities in view of the University's response on some minority issues. Comparisons with other Ivy schools which have Third World Centers, the freshman dean's office (FDO) resistance to listing minority events on their official Freshman Week Calendar, a shortage of minority course offerings, and continuing controversy over the role of the Race Relations Foundation all may or may not contribute to this unease. But if they discourage accepted Blacks from enrolling, the damage they are doing to Harvard's stated ideals of diversity will in the long run be significant.

The admissions office should certainly launch an inquiry similar to but more intense than last year's endeavoring to speak to Black acceptees personally and find out specific reasons they turned Harvard down. But more important, the College must take a wider view of what has seemed so far to be merely an admissions, problem. The controversy over FDO minority events drew the accusation from some students that Harvard is supportive of minorities only as long as the results "show," as in admissions, but that once minorities are safely enrolled, questions of support and sensitivity take a back seat to the College's philosophy of combatting separatism--regardless of student wishes. Some admissions staffers have even suggested that Black acceptees, who are more likely than other minorities to come from well-to-do families and to visit Harvard before coming, are rejecting Harvard in greater numbers because they are more aware of this phenomenon. The reappearance of an unacceptable statistic suggests that Harvard cannot play it both ways forever.