Minority Admissions

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I am writing to express my displeasure at the article "Waiting for Godot (I mean, Bakke): Minority Admissions at Harvard's Grad Schools" which appeared in the June 8 issue of The Crimson. Not only was the tone of the article such that it presented an already emotionally charged issue in an inflammatory manner, but I am particularly disturbed that my words and opinions as spokesperson for the Third World Caucus were misquoted and misrepresented in order to do so. I particularly take issue with the following paragraph which appeared in that article:

Sources at the Med School say that Tosteson has avoided getting involved with the minority subcommittee issue. And Holmes says, "You wouldn't even know Tosteson was there--the faculty council is his cabinet and they run things. Tosteson is very, very inaccessible--you can only infer his views from his allowing Paul to run around loose."

At best, the quotes used in the above paragraph are an inaccurate synthesis of the answers I gave the author to several similar questions asked repeatedly at different points in our conversation. At no time did I say that the faculty council was Dean Tosteson's cabinet. The faculty cabinet is an independent body, elected by and from the Medical School faculty. It is the deans of the Medical School who carry out the administrative duties most visible to students, and in that sense they act as Dean Tosteson's cabine. The Crimson's version of my statement is a total misrepresentation.

Secondly, at no time did I infer to the author that Dr. Oglesby Paul was "running around loose." My response to his repeated questions was that neither I nor anyone else knew Dr. Tosteson's opinions on the matter of minority admissions as he had at no time made them public. Dr. Paul's opinions on minority admissions, however, have been the only public statements by the administration made known throughout the Medical School community.

The issues surrounding admissions have special significance at this time in history when the numerous advances of the civil rights movement seem to be falling by the wayside. The inflammatory nature of this article, along with is misrepresentation of my views, will further cloud the issues, rather than enlighten them. I hope all other articles which deal with these matters will submit all sides of these issues to a more careful and reasonable examination. Michelle D. Holmes '77, HMS '81

Tom Blanton replies:

Holmes's objections concern a two-sentence quote, which she correctly terms a "synthesis"--there should have been an ellipsis between the two sentences.

Th first sentence came in an extended quote concerning administration and faculty power at the Med School. Holmes contended, and other sources agreed, that the faculty council acts as an independent cabinet, with much more power relative to the administration than most such bodies. To avoid repetition, I used only the sentence quoted from that analysis.

Concerning the second sentence in the quote, Holmes is correct: she never "inferred" to me that Dr. Paul was "running around loose." She said it straight out. Her emphasis may have been subverted by the language she used, the important point being that one can only infer Tosteson's views, since he refuses to say anything about the issue of minority admissions.