1. Some felt that the University should not decrease substantially the number of men and argued that, while women will play an increasingly active part in business and the professions, men's role will continue to be considerably more important for a long time into the future. The University, because of its great resources and high standards, has a long tradition of training students who later play significant roles in the business, professional and scholarly worlds well in excess of their relative number. This is a tradition which the University must continue. While acknowledging the need to attract more women to the University, they argued that this should not require equivalent reductions in the number of men, but rather a gradual increase in the size of the incoming class. Many Harvard alumni were reported to hold this view.

Others emphasized that the University has a unique opportunity to train the future women leaders. The University has traditionally adjusted to meet changing needs of society. The student body now includes members from a much wider cross-section of society than it has in the past, and the University is the better for it. This diversification has been possible without any increase in the number of men thanks to a growing applicant pool (the Harvard pool has more than doubled since 1956). All segments of the University community have accommodated to these changes in the past, and they will continue to do so.

2. A somewhat larger class would enable the admission office to respond more fairly and completely to a larger applicant pool, and to more general pressures for further diversification of the entering class such as the addition of more women. Of particular concern is the traditional preference for children of alumni and alumnae. There are strong indications that the financial support of alumni is frequently correlated with the length of family connection with Harvard, and that for many alumni (as well as non-alumni) the admission of a son continues to be more important than that of a daughter.

Answers to these concerns were as follows. In the last 15 years the University of the Harvard student body has been significantly broadened as the result of a very large increase in the number of applicants but without substantial increase in the size of the entering class. Even if the number of men should be decreased, suitable admission policies will enable the University to keep a proper balance with its traditional commitments. Increasing the number of women will further enhance the diversity of the student body. The changing social climate will equalize the importance of admission of daughters and sons, and the financial support of alumnae will hopefully become as important as that of alumni.

3. Concern was expressed about the potential impact on the use of some University resources. Since some subjects have tended to be more popular with women than with men, any growth in the relative number of women students will increase the number of students in some departments, many of which are in the humanities and some of which are already very crowded. On the other hand, women have in the past shown less interest in the physical sciences than have men, and there are few indications that this situation is changing rapidly. Economics is another example of a concentration which in the past has been chosen by few women; there are some signs of change, however. Harvard has a long tradition of excellence in these fields. A substantial decrease in the number of students interested in the physical sciences or economics will decrease the utilization of great University resources.

While acknowledging that this was a serious problem, som felt that special recruiting efforts to attract potential physical scientists, and women scientists in particular, should keep this particular problem within manageable boundaries.

4. While a moderate increase in the undergraduate student body would tend to keep the number of physical science students constant, it would compound the problem of crowded lectures, sections and tutorials in some other departments, particularly in the humanities. While recognizing that increases in faculty could in principle compensate for increases in the number of students, there was some skepticism that sufficient additional faculty would in fact become available.

The existence and importance of this problem is self-evident. Since the physical plant for teaching purposes is not thought to be a present limitation, many felt that the additional faculty needed to take care of the increased number of students could and should be made possible by the additional tuition payments. Further, the graduate school is shrinking because of the reduction in funds from outside the University available for the support of graduate students. This should allow the shifting of some faculty resources to undergraduate instruction and supervision.

5. The residential facilities of the College are already crowded, and any increase in the number of students without new living accommodation would make conditions intolerable. A large majority of undergraduate students were reported to hold this view.

Critics of this position pointed out that the River Houses hosted about 10 per cent more students a decade ago than they do today and that there is no evidence that students ten years ago felt any more crowded than the students of today. However, all pro-expansion advocates agreed that any significant increase in the size of the student body would require new facilities, such as a new House, to keep individual living space at its present desirable level. And there was general agreement that the construction of a new House would require a major fund raising effort.

6. Any increase in size of the student body, even with additional facilities and faculty, would diminish the quality of instruction and life at the University and make the educational experience less personal and less valuable.

Others pointed out that the University has grown slowly and continuously, and that the same arguments were used against each increase. On balance, past growth has yielded more benefits than disadvantages in terms of new programs, better facilities, increased tutorial and more courses, particularly small ones. Given the present size of the College, the House already is the most important community for the social life of all, and the intellectual life of many students. An increased size of the University would not seriously affect undergraduate life as long as the houses remained strong and adequate to serve their membership.

7. Some felt that to make equal access admissions and a larger number of women students dependent upon plans for expansion in order to hold the number of males constant would diminish the commitment made by the University to women and merely substitute a changed and more subtle quota for an explicit one. These members felt that a true commitment to equal access requires acceptance of the possible consequence of fewer men.

While understanding the feelings which support this argument, others saw no contradiction with a recommendation for a reasonable increase in the size of the College if, after consideration of all relevant factors, such as increase could be shown best for the University and all of its constituents.

It came as no surprise that those members most closely associated with Harvard alumni gave much weight to the disadvantages of decreasing the number of men, while those in closest contact with undergraduates gave most weight to the disadvantages of expansion.