President Mary I. Bunting of Radcliffe conferred the Bachelor of Arts degree on 233 members of the Senior class yesterday morning, as a warm sun streamed down upon Radcliffe's 82nd Commencement exercises in the Radcliffe Yard.

Seventy-seven per cent of the class graduated with honors, and seven seniors received their degrees summa cum laude. For the second year in a row, the Radcliffe graduates received Harvard diplomas, co-signed by President Bunting and President Pusey.

In the Commencement address, John Fischer, editor-in-chief of Harper's Magazine, urged the graduating seniors to use the "special qualities of trained mind" which Radcliffe confers toward "guiding the turbulent course of events" in modern society.

Fischer especially expressed concern at the wide-spread feeling among young American intellectuals "of helplessness and of alienation from the dominant American community." He insisted that American problems are not "insuperable," but that they must merely be tackled "with ingenuity and persistence."

Fischer noted that "this sense of impotence among young people seems to be almost uniquely American." He mentioned several examples of the determination of foreign students to change their surroundings, or at least to battle with them.

Admittedly, Fischer said, the "jobs that need doing" in other countries are much more obvious than in America, where "possible remedies are more subtle and complex."

America Needs Intellectuals

But for this very reason, he added, the skill of the intellectual are more needed in America than elsewhere. "The curronts of our time are impossible to dam up," he said, "but they can be guided by people trained in the exacting skills which the job demands. Any intellectual who is willing to apply his training will have little difficulty in finding exciting employment."

In discussing a number of the urgent problems in contemporary America, Fischer noted that all of them involve some kind of political action. He urged that the Radcliffe graduates under no circumstances shrink away from politics.

"Politics is a tool you will have to use if you hope to make any significant impac on the life of your generation," Fischer said. "It is a calling admirably suited for women, who always have been specialists in tacts, in persuasion, and in the ordering of society."