Not everyone is dissatisfied with academicadvising, however. "I think the academic advisingI got was really good," Wang says. But he addsthat he thinks his proctor was better than "theaverage proctor," adding that many of his friendswere not as satisfied. And there are always othersources, like peer counseling groups, the Bureauof Study Counsel and the senior advisers.
One area of academic advising that the Collegeand the Freshman Dean's Office (FDO) say they havetried to stress this year is helping students fromall backgrounds adapt to Harvard's researchstandards. This fall, Moses and Director of theExpository Writing Program Richard Marius heldmandatory meetings to educate the newcomers about"academic honesty," and proctors devoted part of ameeting to the issue.
The symposia, which both Moses and Marius saythey would like to continue, were not a reactionto higher plagiarism rates, but to a feeling thatfreshmen need guidance before the semester evenstarts.
"I think my own feeling is that we don't havemuch of a problem with dishonesty, but we've got alot of problem with ignorance," says Marius,adding that high schools do not train students touse the kinds of primary sources that Harvardrequires them to use. Marius says the FreshmanWeek discussions gave freshmen "a kind of jolt tomake them think about it."
Some proctors say they think the talks madefreshmen more conscious that they must attributesources and did not caused greater anxiety. Butnot everyone agrees.
"Making [plagiarism] the focal point of oneentire proctor meeting [during Freshman Week] andthen an hour's meeting in Sanders Theater is againsetting the wrong tone," says Zutt, nothing thatthe rules are read about the same time as theUniversity's riot control policy.
Doubts about the quality and kind of advising,both academic and personal, persist. Whileproctors cannot be all things to all people,students say some improvements are clearly neededso that getting used to life at Harvard would notrequire a whole year.