Kilson Counters Charges Of Racial Discrimination

In a recent letter to the Manchester Guardian Weekly, Martin L. Kilson '57 countered an accusation of racial and religious discrimination directed at the University by an English professor.

Terence Hawkes, of University College in Cardiff, England, leveled the charge in a letter to the Guardian's editors. "I think it is still true to say that Harvard and many other 'Ivy League' colleges select their students on the fundamentally undemocratic and manifestly illegal basis of 'quota.'" Hawkes wrote. "Only a certain number of Jewish and Negro student are admitted each year, regardless of academic prowess."

Replying to the Englishman's charge, Kilson asserted that "things have either changed quite radically at Harvard since I left there in June, 1959, or else Mr. Hawke's information is about a decade out of date."

"Not One Iota of Discrimination"

Now a student at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at Oxford University, Kilson stated, "I happen to know personally one of the Harvard administrators responsible for admission (as a Negro student I was quite interested in this question), and I can assure you that for Harvard's part there is not one iota of discrimination in admitting Negro students."

University Aids Students

The University is actively involved in an effort to secure qualified Negro students, he continued, and is "even paying to prepare several to enter the college by sending them to preparatory schools in New England. To my knowledge, the only quota or limit placed upon a Negro's entry into Harvard is found in the low economic status of Negroes generally and in the poor educational facilities available to many Negroes."

"As for Jewish students," wrote Kilson, "I believe that they constitute about 25 per cent or so of the Harvard student population, and I do not recall, during my stay at Harvard, any serious criticism of the University for having a discriminatory policy towards Jewish students."