Proctors Don't Have a Clue

The first-years have settled into a routine by now. All classes are in order, sections scheduled, extracurriculars getting under way, roommates kind of cool. College isn't so bad. Some classes are fun, some tedious, some too early in the morning after those late nights talking about stuff. And now there are no more mandatory meetings with that special, helpful person--the freshman proctor.

Who are freshman proctors? According to the Freshman Dean's Offices (FDO) handout, the freshman proctor provides guidance for first-year students in all aspects of their exploration of Harvard and Radcliffe. Furthermore, the mutual confidence, respect and responsibility in the relationship between proctors and their students can do much to teach first-years that members of the Faculty and administration are approachable, and to encourage them to use more fully the advising and counseling resources of the College. How many students learned those things from their proctors?

And they would have been good things to learn. The first year isn't particularly easy. A large book of choices arrives in the mail and suddenly classes must be chosen, a direction picked. As the President's Report of 1888-1889 states, first-years may be bewildered perhaps by the sudden freedom of College life, the multiplicity of fresh interests. If it was true then it certainly still stands true now. However, proctors rarely seemed to have much more of a clue than their advisees.

Proctors are often new to the Harvard scene. They must have some sort of Harvard affiliation; usually they attended a professional school or were employed by the University as an Officer. Many proctors have only been here for a year or two, and those in a professional or graduate school may have very little experience with the workings of the undergraduate scene.

Sure, they are given training about two or three weeks before the first-years show up, but only enough time to have a rudimentary knowledge of some departments and programs on campus. Having a professor who knew the scoop on different classes and concentrations as an advisor would have been such a gift during the first year. Instead, blank eyes greeted the overwhelmed first-year, friendly yet blank. The world of Cores, requirements and concentrations is befuddling. A guiding hand would have been more than appreciated.

Harvard students are skilled at seeming organized and purposeful. It is effortless to convince people that I know what I am doing and have a master plan to my haphazard schedule. Advisors should not be so easy to convince. They should be able to look through the facade of cool and notice the fairly lost first-year on their sofa.

Many proctors went to other schools for their undergraduate education and aren't aware of this, but it is also hard to match up proctors and proctor groups. An entryway is an odd mix-up of people. The perfect advisor for most of them could be not the best for some. The FDO reminds us that not all situations can be ideal. Indeed, they admit some are far from perfect.

But most first-years will have a proctor who falls in the intermediate category; someone who certainly doesn't detract from the year but who in no way adds to it. In the houses, tutors who are involved with the school and specific departments, but who are at the same time concerned with me are a welcome change. Suddenly a well-informed advisor--what a novelty! Part of the problem, according to the FDO, is that many well-qualified applicants are lost to the houses. The selection process for proctors takes much longer than that for tutors and many people apply to both and, hearing from the houses first, accept a tutoring position.

The FDO doesn't have an easy job in finding proctors and is maybe doing the best it can. But if proctors had to have attended Harvard for their undergraduate education or have had more experience working in the school they could be more of a resource. The FDO should do all it can to find the right people for the job. In the meantime first-years can only hang in there and take all the wrong courses and get terribly lost and then join the sophomore rush for "Change of Concentration" forms next fall.