Minorities in Academia May Be Subject of Forum

As the number of Blacks on the nation's campuses continues its alarming decline, University officials said that they will bring a group of experts to Harvard this month to discuss the lack of minorities in higher education.

If successful, University officials hope the informal meeting will produce a national forum at Harvard in the spring on the issue of minorities in academia. Observers said an unprecedented gathering of this kind could prompt other schools to follow Harvard's lead in solving the problem.

"A national conference would be very important," said Yale law professor Drew S. Days III, an affirmative action expert who was invited to the conference. "There is a vacuum of attention [to this problem] and Harvard's conference could fill it."

The minority initiative comes as a result of a joint effort by Assistant to the President John B. Williams, Director of Policy Analysis Muriel Morisey Spence '69 and Vice President for Government and Community Affairs John Shattuck.

Impetus behind the "Forum on Minority Participation in Higher Education" also emanates from President Bok, who has placed high prior- ity on increasing the presence of minorities atthe undergraduate, graduate, faculty andadministrative levels, the three Harvard officialssaid.

They cite a number of recent national reportschronicling the under-representation of Blacks andHispanics on the nation's campuses to demonstratea need for action.

According to a study published last week in TheHarvard Educational Review, the percentage ofBlacks among all graduate students dropped to 4.2percent in 1982 from 5.1 percent in 1976.

And a report released last week by the AmericanCouncil of Education (ACE) found that thepercentage of Black high school students enteringcollege in 1985 plummeted more than 7 percent from1976 while the percentage of Hispanics fell 9percent.

"Attention needs to be given to this issueimmediately," said Charles V. Willie, professor ofeducation and urban studies and a member of theAssociation of Black Administrators andProfessors.

"You just can't have a great learningenvironment without the cosmopolitan experiencethat comes from having a pluralistic population,"Willie said.

However, few answers exist to address what hasbecome a "crisis of substantial dimensions,"Harvard officials said. They said that thediscussions and the tentative conference aredesigned to find cures for the lack of minoritiesin academia.

"It's going to take a lot of major researchuniversities acting together, using the samefinancial resources with the same goals in mind,"said Williams, who advises Bok on affirmativeaction.

Harvard education experts trace the lack ofminorities in higher education to the decliningnumber of Blacks and Hispanics attending college.They say that cuts in federal aid to students,increasing tuition costs and insufficientrecruiting efforts have prompted the presentcrisis.

Experts said that possible solutions to theproblem include increasing Federal aid tostudents, stepping up recruitment, and redoublingefforts to retain minorities once theymatriculate, said Francis Keppel, professor ofeducation and U.S. commissioner of education forthe Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

Experts believe that Harvard can play animportant role as a forum for discussion and amodel prompting other schools to action.

"Harvard can play a useful role as a convenor,"said Harold Howe, senior lecturer in education andcommissioner of education under Johnson. "Peoplerespect Harvard. We should do our share to helppeople discuss this problem."

"It's wonderful that an instituition ofHarvard's prestige is concerned about this issue,"said Sarah Melendez, the Director of the AmericanCouncil of Education's Office of MinorityConcerns. "It will be terrific if they come upwith some specific strategies, because so manyother institutions will copy Harvard," she said