Harvard has the capacity right now to equalize the male-female ratio in the College, but it Goggedly resists doing so. Radcliffe, which should want to add to its numbers, does not have the power to do so. And the responsibility for an immediate equalized ratio lies with Harvard.

But since Harvard is unwilling to meet its responsibility, we support today's armband demonstration calling for 1:1 admissions. Only after the numbers of men and women are equalized at the college will its accessibility be truly equal. Until that time, equal access is just another euphemism for inequality.

Affirmative Action

AFTER THREE YEARS of legally mandated planning for its affirmative action program, the University continues to take a basically obstructionist attitude towards bringing increased numbers of minorities and women into the faculty and administration.

Walter J. Leonard, the University's affirmative action officer, criticized the administration last March for its in action, saying. "Not only have we not progressed a great deal since October 1971, but I fear we have moved backward in a number of areas."

In the last few years, there has been a high turnover in administration officials, but not one opening has been filled by a minority or woman candidate. It is, as Leonard's report noted, "difficult to explain or believe" that the English and History Departments cannot find "a black man or woman in the country with the qualifications to hold a position in their august departments."

Affirmative action depends upon the good faith of the individuals who make hiring decisions, and many of the individuals at Harvard have shown an unwillingness to change Harvard's traditional, old-boy system of hiring.

To remedy the situation, the University should establish a new tier of faculty and administration search committees with significant numbers of minorities and women on them. It should give particular attention to stepping up recruiting efforts at the graduate schools, a primary source for junior faculty.

Negligent Recruiting

THE COLLEGE and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences this year witnessed yet another decline in the number of minority applicants to the two schools--and this time the drop was the worst it has been in several years. As a result, Dean Rosovsky and President Bok in March called for a review of minority recruiting in an effort to determine why minority students, and blacks in particular, are shying away from Harvard. Decreasing minority applications to colleges has been a national trend this past year and the reasons for it are complex. It is clear that any committee that Bok and Rosovsky form to look into the question will not be able to resolve the issues. But Harvard's admissions office should promote more recruiting among public schools, and less at private institutions to combat this trend.

Another minor problem is that some local alumni recruiters working for the Harvard Clubs of major metropolitan areas believe unqualified black candidates are being admitted to Harvard in favor of what they say are more qualified white candidates. According to David L. Evans, associate director of Harvard admissions, some of these recruiters are discouraging minority candidates from applying here, telling them that the only reason they would be admitted is because of reverse discrimination. Recruiters perform a valuable service for Harvard voluntarily, but the few alumni recruiters responsible for out-right racist behavior should be told by L. Fred Jewett, dean of Harvard admissions, that their services are no longer needed, and he should seek out recruiters who are committed to finding black applicants.

Individual departments' faculties who are responsible for admitting students at the graduate school level have failed continually to conduct searches for qualified minority candidates. The situation will not improve until these people are sensitized to the importance of increasing the size of the minority applicant pool so that there is a better likelihood of admitting more minority students.

Med School Power Plant

HARVARD'S PROPOSED $50-million total energy power plant, which would serve the Medical School and medical related institutions in the Mission Hill area of Boston, sounds like a good idea if it will save the University money, as Harvard officials claim.

However, before a power plant of such massive scale and potentially disruptive nature can even be built, there are other considerations more pressing than anticipated dollars savings that must be examined.