If meeting students in the Union is somewhat awkward, and if calling them singly into an office is equally unsatisfactory, many advisers have begun group meetings of all their advisees. Von Stade has an entertainment fund which can be used for this purpose, and he says that more and more advisers are taking advantage of it. Men like David D. Henry '41, director of Admissions, who bring their advisees together in groups, often find the experience rewarding.
'Shakes Up Your Thinking'
In the dreary period between the Yale Game and Christmas, Henry had his advisees to his home for dinner and they talked excitedly about what Harvard was doing to them and for them. "Boy, I thought I was working in high school," one said, "but it was nothing like this." "Yes, it really shakes up your thinking," another answered.
Henry's purpose was not only to let them talk, but also to give them a change from the Union and from studying. "This place is not all so grim and serious," he says. "So many freshmen get worried about losing a scholarship or getting bumped out of this place that you often have to reassure them that they are a highly select group.
"After all," he adds, "two or three were turned down for every one accepted, and the flunk-out rate last year was less than two percent. If they just learn to plan on a long-range basis, they'll do all right. It's at the beginning of the year, when the professor says 'read these books, and write these papers, and take these exams, and good luck'--it's then that the student may feel swamped."
Group advising, if extended too far, can have drawbacks, however. As Von Stade points out: "It is one thing to do this on an informal basis. But if you're going to talk about this wonderful new phrase 'group dynamics," then no one short of a professional counselor should attempt it. It is a serious thing for amateurs to experiment at that level."
Dudley's System
Besides group advising, some critics of the present system have advocated an organized system of freshman advising by upperclassmen. The Student Council tried this with little success in the fall of 1953 on an experimental scale, but discontinued the program. At present, Dudley is experimenting with something similar: each freshman commuter is as-