College Shows No Favor To Athletes, Henry Asserts

Secondary school athletes do not get preferred treatment when they visit the College as prospective freshmen, David D. Henry, associate director of Admissions, said yesterday.

Henry made this statement in reply to a letter published in yesterday's CRIMSON. The letter's author, a junior, charged that football players applying for admission to the Class of '1959 receive a more hospitable welcome in Cambridge than he received back in 1952.

Henry asserted, however, that all prospective freshmen who make pre-arranged visits to the College are accorded comparable hospitality. Their tours are conducted by members of the Undergraduate Schools Committee--a group of College students that works with the Admissions Office--and are geared to the candidate's personal interest, whether this be football or engineering, he said.

Thus one candidate may have an interview with the freshman football coach, and another with a professor of Applied Science, Henry explained.

But all prospective freshmen on official tours, regardless of their specific interests, receive free meals in the College dining halls while they are in Cambridge, Henry continued.

Referring to the letter writer's complaint of inferior hospitality when he was a secondary school senior, Henry explained that at that time the Admissions Office was understaffed and had no group like the Undergraduate Schools Committee to conduct tours of the College. He cited a copy of the student's original correspondence with the Admissions Office, however, to show that his request for an interview was answered promptly and affirmatively.