Harvard to Assist Boston School Department

Harvard has begun to respond to a request from the Boston School System for help in educating its students, Paul N. Ylvisaker, dean of the Graduate School of Education, said yesterday.

Last September, Boston School Superintendant William Leary called a meeting of college and university presidents in the metropolitan area, "to help Boston schools cope with the trauma associated with desegregation."

Urban Studies Center Director Ronald R. Edmonds '73, Harvard liaison to the aid effort, has been charged with circulating a description of the Boston school system's needs throughout the University to find student and faculty volunteers.

The Boston School Department has requested students for assisting teachers, professors for drafting desegregation proposals, and permission for Boston school students to attend college sporting events.

"The Center for Urban Studies willingness to perform a liaison function does not imply approval or disapproval of the actions of the Boston School Committee or the Boston School Department," Edmonds said yesterday.

Harvard has already initiated a tutorial program for Boston school students who have suffered from disruption of their courses.

The tutorial program draws on students and faculty from different schools in the University to teach a wide range of subjects. Ylvisaker said he thought the present availability of help exceeds the demand for it.

Ylvisaker said "the possibilities for the location of the tutorial program are open," adding that it will reach both black and white areas.

Although faculty and student volunteers are not paid for their services, some students receive academic credit for their involvement. Edmonds said he would like Harvard students who have been working in the Boston schools to notify him in order to give the schools a clear picture of available services.

At a meeting last Friday, Presidents Bok and Horner recommended that the admissions committee take Boston school disruptions into account in its decisions.