Mixed Results; The Midwest Is Vital

The acting dean of Radcliffe admission said joyfully this week that the Cliffe is "suddenly a fashion." But her Harvard counterpart glumly scratched his head as his department began evaluating an applicant pool which is 126 prospective students smaller than last year's.

The worst aspect of Harvard's 1.6 per cent decrease in applications. L. Fred Jewett '57, dean of Admissions, said last week, is its "clearly localized" nature. Harvard's drop, he pointed out, is almost entirely in the northern section of the Midwest.

But at 77 Brattle Street, Radcliffe's Harriet B. Belin reacted most enthusiastically to Radcliffe's showing in the Midwest, where applications were up 75 per cent. Total applications rose from 2832 last year to 3159 for the Class of 1977, an 11 per cent increase.

While the admissions departments began to contemplate who's coming to Harvard and Radcliffe, the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) and the Faculty Council discussed whether the new arrivals next Fall will be flooding Cambridge after Labor Day instead of mid-September.

In separate meetings, the Council and CUE discussed a early semester calendar--apparently the most popular alternative to Harvard's traditional schedule drawn up by Marion C. Belliveau, Faculty Registrar.

Although no action on calendar reform is expected from the Council at the moment, a CUE subcommittee is working on a proposal for an altered calendar which it hopes to finish in early April for presentation to the full CUE, the Faculty Council and the Faculty.

And so as the admissions department send their thick and thin envelopes April 15, the CUE hopes to have the Faculty voting on a new calendar for 1974.