<p>From the Harvard Independent:</p>
<p>"Harvard has come a long way since spring 1964, when nuns at a Catholic high school told the graduating senior William Fitzsimmons to avoid Harvard, a school of "communists, atheists, and rich snobs" where he would "lose [his] soul." </p>
<p>Those descriptions were probably true, quipped Fitzsimmons '67, Harvard College's Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, as he spoke last Tuesday ...</p>
<p>Reflecting upon his experiences as an undergraduate coming from a blue-collar Massachusetts background, and later as a member of the admissions staff since 1972, Fitzsimmons marveled at how far Harvard has come in four decades. </p>
<p>When I started, the ratio of males to females was four to one," Fitzsimmons said. Although no records of ethnic minority status were kept at the time, he cited a classmate's figure of eight total "students of color" within his class. </p>
<p>"We had a terrific faculty, but the student body wasn't up to it," he noted. </p>
<p>Even as an admissions officer in 1974, Fitzsimmons recalled a clear lack of diversity within the Harvard institution. </p>
<p>"There were the Harvard admissions committee and the Radcliffe admissions committee," he said. "We couldn't pick them out of a police lineup." </p>
<p>Today's admissions staff faces a slightly different challenge - convincing minorities and students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to choose Harvard in a wildly competitive college admissions world. </p>
<p>"'If you build it, they will come' - that's rubbish," Fitzsimmons said, explaining that serious work must be done in light of the fact that 90 percent of students choose a school within 500 miles of home. </p>
<p>Nationally, only ten percent of students at the most competitive American universities come from the bottom half - that's under $60,000 annual income - of the wealth spectrum. Harvard does a bit better at sixteen percent, but Fitzsimmons dismissed its consideration as a success figure. </p>
<p>"The dumbest rich students go to college at exactly the same rate as the poorest bright students," he said. "Sixteen percent, that's not so bloody hot." </p>
<p>A conscious effort in combating socioeconomic stratification at Harvard is especially significant as such separation is actually getting worse nationally. </p>
<p>"We are resegregating into have and have-nots," Fitzsimmons said. "It's sure as hell harder if you're at the bottom...." </p>