Report Describes Benefits Of Student Leave-Taking

A study of leaves of absence released yesterday by the Office of Instructional Research and Evaluation (OIRE) reports that students returning from leaves are "overwhelmingly positive" about their time away.

The report, based on the evaluations returned by 75 per cent of the 290 leave-takers who received a questionnaire last fall, states that 87 per cent of those surveyed described their leave as "invaluable."

Leaves Lauded

The study, entitled "Where Did You Go? Out!" states that its findings "lead to the broader conclusion that Harvard should continue its overall supportive and flexible approach to leaves."

The study, sponsored jointly by the OIRE and the Office of Career Services and Off-Campus Learning (OGCP), reports that almost two-thirds of the returning students felt ready to make better use of Harvard, while 70 per cent found themselves more interested in their courses.

In a section on students' reasons for taking leaves, the 36-page study states that a "common thread" among those deciding to leave is "the personal quest involved in the venture." Seventy-three per cent of those surveyed sought a "clearer direction in life," according to the report.

The analysis makes no specific recommendations on what facilities Harvard should provide for leave-takers. According to Nancy Lindsay, a research assistant at the OIRE and author of the study, the purpose of the report is to act as a "catalyst to get things started."

"This is not a new report," Lindsay said yesterday. "Its purpose is to remind people, to give them a sense of what people are feeling. We felt it important that a statement be made in favor of leaves."

82 Per Cent Worked

The study reveals that 82 per cent of the leave-takers worked part of the time, while 75 per cent travelled at one time or another. The report also contains vignettes of the leaves of 13 students. Activities in the vignettes range from work with the American Civil Liberties Union, to an archaeological dig in Peru, to the opening of a mountaineering school.

In a foreward to the study, Dean K. Whitla, director of the OIRE, writes, "If we believe the message of the vignettes in the report (and incidentally, I do), there seems to be a great regenerative power in six months of work and six months of travel."

The leave-taking study began in early 1973, when Whitla and Francis D. Fisher '47, director of the OGCP, decided that to better aid students taking leaves, Harvard needed more information.

Lindsay and several Harvard students met over the summer and developed a questionnaire, which was distributed to returning leave-takers last semester.