Harvard Soon to Join Recruiting Program

Harvard may soon join nine New England universities in a national campaign to recruit minority doctoral students.

Two Ivy League institutions, Brown and Dartmouth are part of the endeavor called the Compact for Faculty diversity, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday. But Harvard has withheld its participation so far.

The University, however, is likely to join the association in its second phase, said President of the New England Board of Higher Education John C. Hoy.

"Chances are very good that Harvard will join this program at a later stage," Hoy said. "And of course, we would be delighted."

The national effort was conceived in response to the highly publicized "pipeline problem" in American universities: Administrators claim they are tenuring relatively few minority faculty because so many minorities are choosing professional schools over academic graduate studies.

Harvard's most recent affirmative action report praised the University's progress in tenuring minorities, particularly Blacks. But the report attributed many of Harvard's failures in tenuring members of other under-represented minority groups to the "pipeline problem."

According to Hoy, the institutions selected for the first round of the campaign were carefully chosen based on theirneeds to increase minority faculty diversity andon their eagerness to participate.

"In terms of minority faculty and doctoralstudents, Harvard already has a leg up on othercampuses in the region, and we had a limitednumber of awards we could distribute," Hoy said."Harvard not participating in just this firstround is not a slight at all."

Vice President for Affirmative Action James S.Hoyte '65 said Harvard may join the nationalprogram in incremental stages, by department.

"I met with John Hoy's people in the earlystages of discussions and we tried to decide thebest stage at which an institution like Harvardshould join," Hoyte said. "We realized that it wasreally a [Faculty of Arts and Sciences] call."

"Given the department epicure at Harvard, thatmost faculty decisions really flow throughdepartments, we decided that the key to thesuccess of this program was for John Hoy to gainthe interest of a particular department head,"Hoyte added.

Hoyte said Hoy plans to target certaindisciplines at Harvard as the program moves ahead.

The effort will draw on state, university andprivate funds to prepare more than 400underrepresented minorities for universityteaching jobs by the turn of the century.

In New England the campaign will focus on thesciences, where university participants hope tohelp at least 120 scholars earn their doctoratesand encourage them to remain in academia.

According to Hoy, the New England board isalready co-sponsoring a "very vigorous" regionalproject through the Harvard School of PublicHealth.

"Harvard is already on the forefront ofpromoting minorities in health-science careers inthe Boston area," Hoy said.

Hoyte said that, despite its successes, theUniversity remains interested in advancing itsminority recruitment efforts.

"From a University standpoint, we're alwaysinterested in seeing more efforts made andattentions paid to the problem of producingminority professors," Hoyte said. "But on aworking level things are going to go bydepartmental determinations."

In addition to Brown and Dartmouth, the otherNew England institutions which will participate inthe compact are: the Universities of Connecticut,Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont,Northeastern University and the University ofMassachusetts at Amherst

"In terms of minority faculty and doctoralstudents, Harvard already has a leg up on othercampuses in the region, and we had a limitednumber of awards we could distribute," Hoy said."Harvard not participating in just this firstround is not a slight at all."

Vice President for Affirmative Action James S.Hoyte '65 said Harvard may join the nationalprogram in incremental stages, by department.

"I met with John Hoy's people in the earlystages of discussions and we tried to decide thebest stage at which an institution like Harvardshould join," Hoyte said. "We realized that it wasreally a [Faculty of Arts and Sciences] call."

"Given the department epicure at Harvard, thatmost faculty decisions really flow throughdepartments, we decided that the key to thesuccess of this program was for John Hoy to gainthe interest of a particular department head,"Hoyte added.

Hoyte said Hoy plans to target certaindisciplines at Harvard as the program moves ahead.

The effort will draw on state, university andprivate funds to prepare more than 400underrepresented minorities for universityteaching jobs by the turn of the century.

In New England the campaign will focus on thesciences, where university participants hope tohelp at least 120 scholars earn their doctoratesand encourage them to remain in academia.

According to Hoy, the New England board isalready co-sponsoring a "very vigorous" regionalproject through the Harvard School of PublicHealth.

"Harvard is already on the forefront ofpromoting minorities in health-science careers inthe Boston area," Hoy said.

Hoyte said that, despite its successes, theUniversity remains interested in advancing itsminority recruitment efforts.

"From a University standpoint, we're alwaysinterested in seeing more efforts made andattentions paid to the problem of producingminority professors," Hoyte said. "But on aworking level things are going to go bydepartmental determinations."

In addition to Brown and Dartmouth, the otherNew England institutions which will participate inthe compact are: the Universities of Connecticut,Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont,Northeastern University and the University ofMassachusetts at Amherst