Despite the differences of opinion that have surfaced in this spring's sessions, most members praise Strauch's leadership and the spirit of "colleagueship and commitment" the group has developed.
Strauch originally planned to have his committee issue a preliminary report to the Harvard community early this fall as a preface to the final report targeted for February. However, Strauch said last week that the task of assembling the information the committee deems necessary for discussion of the issues it must consider has taken longer than scheduled and the committee might not issue the interim report.
Although Strauch's secretary, Mariam Ryckles, takes notes and prepares minutes of each meeting, Strauch says they are only for the convenience of committee members and will not be released or included with any reports the group makes. "We just wouldn't get people speaking their minds if we opened the meetings or released the minutes," Strauch says.
A 24-year veteran of the Physics Department, Strauch nonetheless says that he believes the main reason Bok and Horner selected him was because they were convinced he did not know anything about the complexities of Harvard and Radcliffe admissions and the pro and con arguments of the various alternatives the committee is exploring.
Strauch makes his opinions very well known to the committee but he has thus far been able to avoid any attempt to steer the committee in only one direction. Aside from Strauch, most committee members point to Dean Whitlock as the most influential among their number. Whitlock, who has 26 years of administrative experience at Harvard, knows so much about how things operate in the undergraduate sphere, that members often defer to him.
"Whitlock doesn't say much, he's actually very terse. But when he does talk, we have to listen because he knows so much," one member said.
Whitlock himself refers any question about the committee's work to Strauch. "It's better that the chairman offer our consensual opinion on these matters," he says.
President Horner said in January that Strauch was selected to chair the committee because of his reputation for fairness, his ability to listen to all points of view and draw them together, and his successful work in the executive committee of the Undergraduate Science Center.
The members of the Strauch committee in addition to Arthurs, and Whitlock are: Dean Rosovsky; L. Fred Jewett '57, dean of Harvard admissions and financial aid; Kathleen O. Elliot, associate dean of Radcliffe; Roger W. Brown, professor of Social Psychology; Doris H. Kearns, associate professor of Government; Stephan A. Thernstrom, professor of History; Fred L. Glimp '50, former dean of Harvard admissions and a member of the Associated Harvard Alumni; F. Stanton Deland Jr. '36, a Harvard Overseer; Helen H. Gilbert, Radcliffe Trustee and Harvard Overseer; Anne M. Morgan, president of the Radcliffe Alumnae Association; Connie M. Cervilla '74; Robert L. Schram '75; Barry Michaels '75; and Renee Landers '77.