SOME Cliffics, and some administrators, look to Harvard's system as the ideal. There, the dean of freshmen has five senior advisors under him, each of whom coordinates a geographical section of the Yard. Each section has thirty advisors, each of whom has eight to ten student advisees. Advisors do not live in the dorms, but proctors do, and they handle the bulk of student counseling. Each freshman has three official ("Viable," says Smith) sources of information, where as a Cliffic has only her advisor and her dean ("unlivable sources").

The proponents of the Harvard system applaud its personal approach and the accessibility of its advising personnel. But Harvard freshmen, partied and befriended all year ("He was a great guy, even if he didn't know very much," said a student about his proctor), are left alone at critical moments. As one secretary in Fay House put it. "Harvard prides itself on its personal approach, but at concentration time, it's Haravrd that simply posts notices and expects freshmen to see them, and Radcliffe that sends each girl her own packet of information."

Should there be more freshman advisors at Radcliffe? Radcliffe cannot afford to pay any more, but the Administration has at its disposal unused manpower. Each House has associates, for example, who have nebulous, unspecified functions but who appear at all House dinners. They are tenured Faculty members and have limited free time, but if each House has twenty, and each professor saw one student, each advisor's load would be cut to twenty-five. If, in addition, Radcliffe accepted the people in the admissions office who want to advise, for example, the Ioad would be lightened still further. (According to one dean, admissions officers, although extremely able, do not have the "right perspective" on the freshman year. Admissions officers claim they know as much as anyone about the places a girl here can find information. Advisors will at least be more visible next year, when some move into the dorms.

Next year's freshmen are being chosen this month and the Radcliffe Administration is in the process of reappraising its advisor program. The stumbling block to all proposals is the chronic lack of student enthusiasm about what is being designed for them.

After their freshman year, Cliffics' departmental tutors advise them in academics, and their friends give them personal advice and reassurance. For the time being, freshman advising remains a fragile bridge to sophomore year that not everyone prefers to use.