Today's Under grads Found More Serious Than Their Predecessors

Four University educators and administrators joined in telling the 25th Reunion symposium yesterday that the present Harvard undergraduate is more intelligent, more serious, and more religious-minded than his forebears.

Moderator Delmar Leighton '19, Dean of Students, set the tone for the gathering in New Lecture Hall by noting definite shifts in emphasis since 1930 toward more serious studying and more intense extra-curricular activity. He affirmed that in an age of anxiety, today's undergraduate does not shirk his responsibility.

The growing need; both educationally and socially, to provide the College with another House was noted by Daniel S. Cheever '39, Allston Burr Senior Tutor. Since the present student more often comes from far away and is more dependent on scholarship aid, the administration definitely has "a measure of responsibility for his 24-hour day," Cheever said.

He claimed that an addition to the House system would make each unit of a more manageable size, providing in part for the College's "need for something of the warmth and companionship that comes from fraternity living." The educational aspect of the addition would be an intensification of and improvement on the vital tutorial system, Cheever said.

Love and Vocation

George A. Buttrick, Chairman of the Board of Preachers, noted that in the past year attendance at Memorial Church services has increased 60 per cent, and he attributed the increase to more undergraduate interest in religion. Commenting on the 300 students who have voluntarily consulted him for problems ranging from love to vocation, Buttrick said that "the impression one gains is that here are remarkably fine people."

He also noted the wide range of the Phillips Brooks House social service program, which is supported by the aid of some 600 students, and called the program "a reflection of the undergraduate mind."

Associate Director of Admissions David D. Henry made several comparisons between the admissions situation in the spring of 1926, when the Class of '30 applied, and the present one.

Less From Massachusetts

Henry noted in particular that only about 1200 applied to Harvard in 1926, compared to the more than 4,000 that did so during the past spring. The Class of 1930 had 55 per cent of its members from New England and 50 per cent from Massachusetts alone, Henry said. The Class of 1958, on the other hand, has 35 per cent of its membership from New England and less than 30 per cent from Massachusetts.

With so many qualified candidates, Henry said, "there are no really reliable measures of their intangible qualities" and the admissions process is hardly more than an informed guess on many of the candidates.

The next symposium is the class symposium, scheduled for New Lecture Hall tomorrow from 9:30 to 11:15 a.m.