December 1, 1966
Admissions on the recruitment of black students
(Date is for when it was reported in the Sophian)
Acting Director of Admissions Ave M. McGarry affirmed that “Negroes meet the same basic requirements as other applicants. We seek the best candidates whatever their backgrounds may be.” However, in recent years the College had taken steps toward encouraging black students to apply by working with the National Service and Scholarship Fund for Negro Students and the Cooperative Program for Educational Opportunity, seeing their number of (known) black applicants rise substantially. At the time of the article, Massachusetts law prohibited indication of race on application forms; in the Smith application process, the Board of Admissions would only know if a student was black through an interview or a particular referral. Approximately 1% of the Smith undergraduate student body was black, with the majority coming from large urban centers in the North.
Admissions Seeks ‘Best Candidates’ No Special Treatment For Negroes
[Last updated on October 12, 2018]