Fitzsimmons says his office has made a special effort to attract women interested in science, still predominantly a male domain, and last year recruited almost 1000.

Drawing lines between closely matched students sometimes becomes an almost arbitrary process, Fitzsimmons admits. But he insists the end result is a class consisting of the most talented members of the applicant pool.

Fitzsimmons sees Harvard's diversity, relative to the general population, as important for the nation's increasingly multicultural future.

"We want to do our share to educate the future leaders of America," he says. "We also think it's important to have people of various backgrounds."

Fitzsimmons points to the "myth" of tougher standards for Asian-Americans, whose numbers at Harvard continue to rise steadily out of proportion to their presence in the general population.

In 1990, the U.S. Justice Department concluded after a lengthy investigation that there was no discrimination against Asian-Americans in the Harvard admissions process.

Although Asian-Americans had a lower acceptance rate than many other groups, the Justice Department concluded that this was the result of preferential "tips" for athletes and children of alumni, groups in which Asian-Americans have traditionally been underrepresented.

Harvard uses the demographics of the general population as a rough template to structure its class, according to Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, who was dean of admissions from 1972 to 1985.

Fitzsimmons insists, however, that any goals the admissions office may have are approached through aggressive recruitment practices, first pioneered by Harvard in the late 1930s.

Thus Harvard seeks to expand its applicant pool from underrepresented minority groups, rather than relaxing standards or helping them in with a "tip."

"Once the recruitment is over, then people have to get in one their own," Fitzsimmons says.

This, according to Evans, is the classic meaning of affirmative action: Comprehensive recruitment, increased access and uniform standards.

Some argue that the shifting admissions criteria have had an effect even on students who are already at the College.

Riesman says that in the early 1930s, when he was an undergraduate in the College, Harvard men were more concerned with debutante parties than with pre-professional training.

But that is true no longer, a fact that Riesman attributes to Harvard's tougher admissions procedures.