The number of Black students enrolling in the Class of 1996 is the lowest of any first-year class since Harvard's affirmative action admissions policy was implemented in 1969.

Although the College admitted roughly the same number of Blacks as in previous years, only 95 of them decided to attend Harvard. And just 27 of them are Black men.

In contrast, there were 132 Blacks in the entering class last year, and 127 the year before. Sixty-seven Black men enrolled in last year's first-year class.

Harvard admissions officers say Blacks are turning down Harvard this year because other schools are aggressively recruiting them with merit-based minority scholarships.

Harvard, which offers only need-based financial aid, says it cannot match the offers because many of the candidates don't demonstrate sufficient need.

President Neil L. Rudenstine said at a race relations workshop this week that the University may eventually be forced to offer special scholarships in order to lure Black students to Harvard. That would violate the Ivy League agreement to award financial aid strictly on a need basis.

As other universities pour scholarship money into building diverse campuses, topflight minority students increasingly have become hot commodities, courted and wooed like star quarter-backs.

"When we see people who are competitive enough to get in here, everyone is beating down the path to that person's door," says senior admis- sions officer David L. Evans.

But the University has been reluctant toabandon its longstanding need-based financial aidpolicy. Along with need-blind admissions,need-based aid pioneered Harvard's successfulrecruitment strategy in the early 1960s.

But this year, the need-based aid policyhindered Harvard in a bidding war for highlyqualified Black candidates.

Schools like Duke University and WashingtonUniversity successfully wooed students away fromHarvard with targeted scholarship packages fortalented African-Americans.

Need-based aid, once the cutting edge ofadmissions recruitment, may now be the Achillesheel of Harvard's diversity.

But critics say Black students may be rejectingHarvard for other reasons as well. Some point tothe racial tensions on campus, while others saythe University isn't committed to making Blackstudents feel comfortable here.

Alvin Bragg '95, vice-president of the BlackStudents Association, says Harvard doesn't "rollout the red carpet" like other schools do.

"As a Black student applying, you don't feelthat there's a commitment to you," says Bragg, whohelped recruit prospective first-years lastspring.

LaVonda M. Williams '93, co-founder of theHarvard Society of Black Scientists and Engineers,sees a direct correlation between recent tensionson campus and lower Black matriculation rates.