Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 urged an auditorium of mostly Latino undegraduates yesterday to help increase diversity at Harvard by participating in ongoing efforts to recruit minorities.

Recalling his own undergraduate background as an “ambassador from the blue-collar world,” Fitzsimmons said that one of the more effective recruiting techniques is to have future applicants meet Harvard students from similar backgrounds.

Fitzsimmons spoke at an event moderated by members of Concilio Latino—an umbrella group for students of Latino descent.

Nationally, the Hispanic population is growing more quickly than the Caucasian population, and Fitzsimmons said future classes at Harvard should reflect these changing demographics.

“If Harvard is going to continue to claim that it’s educating future leaders, it needs to actively recruit Latinos, or Harvard itself is going to become marginalized,” Fitzsimmons said.

Latinos comprise 9.8 percent of the Class of 2010, a record number.

Fitzsimmons cited the “resegregation of America by ethnic background and socio-economic background” as a major obstacle to Harvard’s efforts to diversify.

“We’re worried that there are kids out there who would be great at Harvard who are not going to make it out of high school,” Fitzsimmons said. Harvard’s approach then, he said, includes talking to students ever earlier in their academic careers—as early as middle school.

According to Fitzsimmons, the elimination of Early Action and the exemption of families with incomes under $60,000 from parental contribution to tuition are aimed to convince prospective students that Harvard “isn’t a club for the rich.”

The importance of initiatives like these extend beyond Harvard’s walls, he said: “This is a clear message to about half of the population: you can go anywhere in the world,” regardless of financial and other barriers.

The impact extends as well. “I worry like crazy that if we’re unable to reach out to those [lower socio-economic groups], that talent will not be developed, and America will be less of a power in the world,” Fitzsimmons said.

Fitzsimmons’ talk was well received by the students who nearly filled Fong Auditorium. Several said they would heed Fitzsimmons’ call to get involved.

“It gave me motivation to go back to my high school and recruit,” said Eloy Villanueva ’08.

Student organizers directed students interested in helping recruit to join the Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program or the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative, which targets students at schools from lower socio-economic areas.

“The difference that Latinos have had at becoming a force at Harvard,” is the main point that Alejandro R. Jerez ’08, a member of Concilio Latino’s executive committee, hopes that the audience took away from the meeting. “We’re not quite there yet, but we are aspiring to be a major presence,” he said.