John P. Reardon '60, former associate dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, succeeds Robert E. Kaufmann '62 as the new director of admissions in Harvard College.

Kaufmann is the new assistant to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for Financial Affairs.

Reardon said yesterday that cutting 50 places from next years entering class--part of the new plan to reach a 2.5-1 ratio of men to women--will make the admissions process much more difficult this year than in the past.

"We will still try to attract the top scholars", Reardon said, "but we will have to cut back in other categories such as alumni sons and the disadvantaged."

Less Diversity

He added that, "I think it unfortunate to reduce the number of men. It will mean less diversity in the class, and as a result, fewer interesting people and events at Harvard."

Reardon said yesterday that the admissions board will recruit in the Spanish-speaking community in its efforts to bring the disadvantaged to Harvard. "We will especially be looking for disadvantaged students from the Boston area as well as for Mexican-Americans," he added.

Except for a one-year appointment Director of Student Employment. Reardon has been on the Harvard Admissions Board since 1965. Last year he also served as Allston Burr Senior Tutor in Kirkland House.

As the new financial affairs assistant to Dean Dunlop. Kaufmann is responsible for structuring the budget of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Looking ahead at the financial squeeze, Kaufmann sees his position as that of a "hatchet man."

"It's no joke that money is tight at Harvard this year," Kaufmann said yesterday, "and I am afraid that one of my big jobs will be in making the preliminary cuts in the departmental budgets."