1619 First-Years to Register

Setting strikingly un-Harvardian tones, the University's top administrators welcomed first-years to Tercentenary Theatre yesterday afternoon with calls to follow their hearts.

1619 members of the Class of 1998 are expected to register today from 9 a.m. to noon in the Sever Quad between Robinson and Emerson Halls, according to the Harvard News Office. Memorial Hall, the traditional site of registration, is undergoing renovations and will re-open as a student center next fall.

"We're just sort of going with the flow," said Greg Atkinson, department administrator in the registrar's office. He said some students will register inside Sever Hall today, and, if it rains, all matriculation activities will be moved into the hall.

Clouds held the threat of rain for most of yesterday's opening exercises, but the skies cleared at the ceremony's conclusion. Three student singing groups the Collegium Musicum, Radcliffe Choral Society and the Harvard Glee Club--performed.

Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles reflected yesterday's tone by quoting fellow Brit W.H. Auden. The dean said first-years should not allow competition with other students to be the standard by which they measured themselves.

"You are not in: race against each other," he said. "You are not in a race against the world."

Knowles added that he hoped the Class of '98 will be "busy, argumentative and well-tempered."

Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley Nathans said students should explore possibilities. "You may find yourself starting over more than once" in the next few years, she said.

President Neil L. Rudenstine urged students to follow their "strongest interests and talents."

And Radcliffe College president Linda S. Wilson spoke of two kinds of career paths. One is direct, like an arrow, taking a person from, "one triumph to the next;" the other is a spiral with "detours and some backsliding along the way."

First-years should not be afraid of the spiral and should always try to keep the "capacity to recognize opportunity," Wilson said

President Neil L. Rudenstine urged students to follow their "strongest interests and talents."

And Radcliffe College president Linda S. Wilson spoke of two kinds of career paths. One is direct, like an arrow, taking a person from, "one triumph to the next;" the other is a spiral with "detours and some backsliding along the way."

First-years should not be afraid of the spiral and should always try to keep the "capacity to recognize opportunity," Wilson said