Alumni Urged to Recruit Minorities

Harvard-Radcliffe admissions officers yesterday urged about 200 alumni recruiters to develop minority recruiting programs in their communities, at an afternoon session of the Alumni Schools and Scholarship Committee's Biennial Conference.

Alumni representatives from Harvard and Radcliffe Clubs across the country, here to participate in the two-day conference, attended workshops yesterday on recruiting, increased cooperation between the newly-merged admissions offices, and financial aid.

Increased alumni involvement is one aspect of the admissions office's new recruiting plan, which also includes work with community groups and a focus on ten target areas that have lagged in minority applications.

At the minority recruiting session, some alumni expressed concern about recruiting techniques, including the problem of identifying viable candidates without relying on SAT scores. Others expressed the fear that they would lose their credibility in the community if Harvard rejected applicants they had recruited.

Dwight D. Miller, associate director of admissions, told alumni there is no "magic word" to help in recruiting Native Americans and inner-city minorities, but that others have had success with "persistent, rifleshot personal contact."

"You should be sensitized to the needs of minority students, and be willing to follow through," Wardel Robinson, associate dean of admissions, told the group. "There's no substitute for legwork."

Nancy Campion, an admissions officer who works primarily with Native Americans, told alumni they will be well received by minority groups because "education is seen not just to get economic advantage, but as a matter of survival."

David L. Evans, senior admissions officer, said most minority students now come from middle class backgrounds, and urged alumni not to forget recruitment efforts in areas where minority students have applied to Harvard in the past.

He said one Ivy League school increased its minority applicant pool from 200 to 1200 in one year, but only increased its "real applicants" by 80, he said, because they attracted only "high-risk" applicants