Senior Associate Emphasis Shifts To Spring Help

The Senior Associates Program, in a shift of emphasis, will advise Harvard freshmen in choosing Houses and fields of concentration.

The program this year is no longer primarily concerned with helping freshmen adjust to their first few months here, Paul, W. Sugarman '69, one of the Associates, said. Rather, the focus will be on the Spring semester of the freshman year and the Fall semester of the sophomore year.

Plans for the change were finished at a February 29 organizational meeting of F. Skiddy von Stade Jr. '38, dean of freshmen, the Associates, and the Yard Coordinators.

Thus far the program has been "unstructured," W.C. Burriss Young, assistant dean of freshmen, said. There have been "problems with the program," he added.

"Not much has been done this year," Wayne S. Barry '69, another Associate said yesterday. "It's all been very informal--up to the individual proctors. If I had to pick a word I'd call the program nebulous."

The original aim of the Senior Associates Program, first instituted last year, was to provide upperclassmen for Harvard freshmen to consult. Seniors involved signed up to work with a proctor of a particular unit. According to the Freshmen Dean's Office, only 22 signed up this Fall, less than half of the 48 needed.

Wrong

The shift in emphasis was suggested last Spring by Robert T. Marotta '67, who also suggested recruiting more juniors to act as Associates. We'd been concentrating on the wrong place," said Marotta, now a proctor in Lionell Hall. "First-semester seniors are too busy, and freshmen already have plenty of other advisors."