Alumni Unaware of Drop In Minority Applications

Four of five chairman of local Harvard schools and scholarship committees contacted yesterday said that they did not know that fewer blacks were applying to Harvard from their areas even though Harvard admissions officials said their districts account most for this year's 25 per cent decline in black applicants.

Coming in the Wake

The chairmen's remarks come in the wake of criticism from David L. Evans, associate dean of Harvard admissions. Evans said this week that some alumni in various Harvard Clubs around the country--particularly the clubs in the East--engage in an active effort to discourage minority students from coming here.

Local schools and scholarship committees organize alumni recruiting in their areas.

The list of areas where applications of from blacks have decreased includes Washington D.C., Baltimore, Md.: New York: Detroit: Chicago: New Jersey: Delaware: and Indiana, according to the Harvard admissions office.

"I wouldn't say that the quantity of black applicants is down," said Donald L. Hocevar '57 chairman of the schools and scholarships committee in Detroit.

Fredrick Hird '57, chairman of the Washington committee, said yesterday that was unaware of any decrease in the number of blacks applying from the Washington area. Hird said he had not been given any figures from the admissions office and had not attempted a survey of his own.

Timothy D. Ellard, '56 co-chairman of the New Jersey committee, said yesterday the decline was "not especially apparent" in his area. "We don't have large numbers of blacks applying from here anyway," he said.

The chairman of the Delaware committee. Dr. Owen B. Mathre, '51, said yesterday he was "a little puzzled as to why they say the numbers are down here."

The chairmen of the committees in New York, Chicago, and Indiana could not be reached for comment last night.

Evans said last week he thought alumni recruiting was less enthuiastic this year because the DeFunis case had over-sensitized alumni about the "reverse discrimination myth," which he said propagates the idea that "semi-literate blacks are being accepted at the expense of white geniuses."

Marco DeFunis sued the University of Washington Law School because he was denied admission in 1971. DeFunis claimed he was better qualified than minority applicants who were admitted on the basis of their race. The Supreme Court declared the case moot last year because DeFunis had already graduated.