Harvey Brooks, Pierce Professor of Technology and Public Policy, said Reagan has revealed "a determination to go after certain sciences, otherwise he could have made these cuts even across the board."

Citing expected cuts in funding for economics research, Brooks said. "This is personal animosity on the part of [David A.] Stockman [director of the OMB and architect of Reagan's spending plan], who fancies himself an economist."

Other Harvard faculty members and administrators said that despite the probable reduction of support in several fields, "the process is less a witch hunt than old-fashioned politics."

The Kennedy School of Government may lose some support from the Department of Energy for research in conservation and environmental studies, but "each administration is entitled to affect policies, and make choices in what it funds," Hale Champion, executive dean of the K-School, said.

Regardless of how they interpret the political motivation behind the impending cuts. Harvard educators agreed that the reductions signal a long-term trend of government withdrawal from supporting universities.

Champion said private sources, such as corporations and foundations. "view themselves as providing the seed to get things going," adding that "they may be discouraged if they believe the government will not be there to pick up and develop projects."

Students will begin turning away from medicine, as well as research in the "hard" and "soft" sciences over the next ten years if they do not receive tuition support, fellowships and funds for adequate facilities from the government, William Paul, McKay Professor of Applied Science, said.

Despite increases in federal support over the past decade, Harvard graduate programs "have lost ground in recruitment," Paul added, explaining, "We need more help at this point, not less."

Loans Affect Universities

Proposed reductions in the government's student loan guarantee and tuition grant package will affect universities as much as they do those who enroll, Edward L. Keenan, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said.

Harvard will have to revise many of its scholarship policies if the government withdraws "a significant amount of money," Keenan said, adding. "Ability to pay is now not a factor here, and we may not be able to afford that any more."

However, Keenan and other University administrators predict the large constituency of parents, students and educators supporting the Guaranteed Student Loan and Pell Grant programs may pressure Congress into modifying Reagan's proposals, perhaps at the expense of less-well-known grants for research