Jewett Replaces Peterson as Admissions Dean

L. Fred Jewett '57, a veteran Harvard admissions administrator, has been selected to succeed Dr. Chase N. Peterson '52 as dean of Admissions and Financial Aids.

In his new post, Jewett will head the committee that selects nearly 1200 students for Harvard from a group of applicants which totalled over 7000 last year.

Change in Policy Unlikely

The appointment of Jewett, who has been on the Admissions staff here for seven years, is likely to signal a continuance of the policies that have marked Harvard Admissions under Peterson's leadership over the past five years.

"There will be no fundamental break with existing practices," Jewett said yesterday. In particular, he said he expects to continue Peterson's policies of special recruitment for minority students and of increased financial aid in the form of loans and employment assistance.

In addition, Jewett said he hopes to initiate greater contact and cooperation with the Radcliffe Admissions Committee, by sharing Harvard's traveling staff, alumni interviewers and recruiters. "We must take into account the increasing role of women in the University," he said.

On the issue of equal admissions for women versus the current 2.5-to-1 ratio of men to women, Jewett said he dislikes both. "Personally, I'm not comfortable with artificial ratios not based on the facts of the situation," he said.

No Sex Considerations

He said he would prefer a flexible ratio where the composition of the student body would reflect the make-up of the pool of applicants. "Ideally, you ought to be considering people without regard to sex," he said. "You shouldn't give any weight to whether a person is male or female."

Jewett said he expects that Harvard and Radcliffe Admissions will be consolidated into one committee, although he declined to speculate when this would take place. "I think eventually there will be enough shared activities, common interests and aspirations," he said, "that combining the two groups will be the best and easiest way of doing things."

"I don't see any inherent logic to keeping separate admissions committees in the long run," he said.

President Bok chose Jewett from among a group of five candidates for dean of Admissions submitted to him by a Faculty search committee. Bok said that Jewett was his "number one choice," from the group. "He was not a Sargent Shriver," Bok said.