Heimert attacks the "superficial" diversity which he says the admissions office has artificially imposed on the College.
In his undergraduate days, Heimert says, "You were interested in what peoples' interests were--not in some demographic census definition of them."
"I think that diversity is a positive step in so far as the diversity does not become...so much a priority that in order to achieve diversity you sacrifice something else," says Heimert. "Sometimes you wonder whether the admissions committee hasn't pushed it a little."
Heimert claims that as house master, he encountered a number "tragic instances of people...brought here to Harvard to build up the numbers and can't keep their head above water."
"One has the sense now that there is one of each," says Heimert. "There are no ties that bind."
He points out the dark side of the admissions office policy of trumpeting increasing ethnic diversity.
"We don't have the figures for poets, actors, musicians, and scientists," says Heimert. "It's as though that external characterization--African-American, Hispanic, Native American--is what's important."
He also attacked the notion of admitting students so that they can act out their stereotypical ethnic roles instead of appreciating their own individual skills.
Heimert envisions an setting in which Black students participate "in a kind of Black community but yet develop enough sense of identity that they don't have to play Black all the time. Or gays that don't have to play gay all the time."
They should not "be anxious about sitting down with a honky or a straight," he adds.
Intellectual Life
Heimert says the intellectual life that former President A. Lawrence Lowell envisioned in the houses has disintegrated in recent years.
In the last 25 years, the University has abolished the position of instructor--a post mostly held by resident tutors expanding their doctoral theses into books--and has moved to recruit more junior faculty from outside the University.
Previously, most tutors in the 1950s had Ph.Ds, while today the majority of them are still graduate students, according to Heimert.
In addition, most of them are not College graduates anymore, and therefore, they are not familiar With the workings of the undergraduate system, Heimert says.
Former President Bok's 20-year tenure was characterized by myopic, reactive but well-intentioned policies that failed to address the essence of many problems, according to Heimert.
He notes that Bok addressed social goals and race relations instead of "what some us think is the primary vision of Harvard, which is, academic education."
"I suppose [Bok] wanted everybody to love each other and be nice. As a believer in original sin, I figure that goal is never met, but you can move toward it, I suppose," says Heimert.