Med School Faculty Approves Admissions Under Equal Access

The Medical School faculty voted overwhelmingly at its last meeting in favor, of a report that calls for "equal numbers" of men and women to be admitted to the school.

F. Sargent Cheever '32, visiting professor of Molecular Biology and Molecular Genetics and chairman of the Admissions Review Committee that suggested the change, said yesterday that he would implement the full report "with a bang" when he became director of admissions on July 1.

Cheever also said he would study the possibility of using a lottery system and a computer in the admissions process, two additional recommendations made by the faculty when it approved the report on May 28.

A group of first year medical students and members of the Third World Caucus voiced opposition to some of the review committee's recommendations.

Parity

Although there has been on criticism of the report's call for "parity"--which would mean a 56 per cent increase in the number of women enrolled--a member of the first year class who declined to be identified said last night that "many of us have other concerns with the reports."

He said that the "major bone of contention" is a provision in the review that states that preference should be given to an offspring of a member of the faculty of medicine or of a Harvard Medical School alumnus when two applicants are judged to be equally well-qualified on the basis of academic record and personal attributes.

The student said that, in a special meeting with Cheever and Dr. Leon Eisenberg, current chairman of the admissions committee, preceding the faculty meeting, and in the faculty meeting itself, a group of first year students tried to get the entire report tabled.

"A lot of us think faculty and alumni children already have an advantage," he said. And because we know think kind of thing has always gone on under the table. if it is in print, it will give it even more importance."

Cheever said last night that he does not think this is a "serious" concern. "Young faculty will produce progeny who are quite extraordinary in their own right," he said.

Woodrow A. Myers, a member of the Third World Caucus, said last night that his group also objects to the provision in the report that calls for the number of minority students admitted to remain at or rise above the 20 per cent in this year's freshman class. He called the group's objection basically "procedural."

Myers said that the members of his group are writing a minority report to insure that it knows "who is going to be our representative" on the admissions committee and to make sure that "we will have input in choosing students.