Freshman Advising Program Will Be Expanded Next Year

A program to match incoming freshmen with upperclass advisers will be expanded next year to include most members of the freshman class.

The program will assign each student to a volunteer adviser with similar academic interests. F. Skiddy von Stade '37, dean of Freshmen, said yesterday that the project in its first year of operation "had been a useful adjunct" to the present advising system.

The upperclass adviser program, which covered about 250 freshmen this year, will reach as many as 800 next year, James A. Dern '74, one of its coordinators, said yesterday. He added that the freshman dean's office will increase its support for the program.

Many freshmen have complained, however, that they were never contacted by their advisers, Russell Meyer '77, a member of the Freshman Council, said yesterday, Meyer said the program had not encouraged advisers to continue meeting with freshmen.

Meyer is optimistic about the future of the program, however, "People think that there is a need for it [the advising program], if it is followed up," he said.

Dern maintained that the problems with the program had been minimal. He said that only 20 per cent of the advisers had failed to contact the freshman whom they were assigned to advise.

Sophomores

Von Stade explained that the program will work in conjunction with a plan to have 140 sophomores live in the yard next year. These students, however, may not have any formal advising responsibilities.

The sophomore program together with the upperclass advising project will provide freshmen with an increased amount of exposure to upperclassmen.

He said that the future of these advising systems will depend on decisions to be made about whether to have "an integrated freshmen year" in which all freshmen live together in the Yard or an alternate plan in which freshman are assigned to live at Radcliffe as well.

He said that the eventual relationship between Harvard and Radcliffe will also determine the kind of advising system that is used.

He said, "If they can continue it (the upperclass advising program), it would be great. He added, however, "So much contact between freshmen and upperclassmen goes on anyway."

Meyer, however, said that much more contact is needed between upperclassmen and freshmen. He called the advising system "an excellent idea."

Dern said that many freshmen "seemed excited by the thing," because "Harvard came to them." He said that many advising programs are available but none of them seeks out the freshman. He found that many of this year's upperclass advisers "were worried by the quality of advice from the official advisers."