Fox, Bowersock Prepare Reply To Student Letters

Two Harvard deans who mailed letters over the summer to undergraduates requesting their opinions of "the Harvard experience" will report on the students' replies at the end of October, one of the deans said yesterday.

Dean Fox and Glen W. Bowersock, associate dean of the Faculty, are continuing to receive answers to their July 13 letter. The replies now number between 50 and 75, and Fox said he was "perfectly happy" with the size of the response.

Fox said he will not comment on the specific content of the letters until he has read all of them.

Many students wrote "quite long essays" and saw the letter "as an invitation to try and decide what they'd gotten out of Harvard," Fox said.

Although most replies contained descriptions of individual experiences rather than suggestions for improving College life, students wrote on common themes, Fox said, adding, "There was no general topic in the letters which was new to us."

Most students dealt with educational issues such as the quality of instruction and the interaction of students and faculty. Non-educational issues included housing and the role of students and faculty in the University.

Fox said some changes may occur as a result of the responses, citing the pass-fail option as an example of a change initiated by student opinion.