Word: proctors
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Female proctors for some reason got more favorable reviews. Freshmen women appreciated them because they knew how to relate to other women as friends, and because their presence as role models ("successful women") was often comforting. One proctor was a transactional analyst, another was breezing through Harvard Business School, another was at the Law School and loving it. Their proctees liked the maternal warmth and easygoing support. One freshwoman from Canaday said, "My proctor had just graduated from Radcliffe two years before, and she was very cynical about Harvard men. When we felt rejected and lonely she'd cheer...
Another said her proctor had given copies of Fear of Flying to everyone in the entry. "She handled roommate problems better than anyone I'd ever seen." Many male freshmen said they found female proctors to be less uptight than the men. Some freshmen had male proctors who tried to compete with their students socially and athletically, and found female proctors' non-competitiveness a relief. Said one, "You have a hard time competing with your peers. It's an unfair disadvantage, and a very demoralizing one, to have to measure up to some stud proctor who's getting...
There are other stories. One resourceful proctor managed to transfer a non-athletic freshman out of the then jocky, preppy Greenough to the coveted sanctuary of a single room in Hurlbut. "I'll never forget him for that," the freshman vows fervently. Another proctor who had some sort of clout with the administration kept several kids miraculously off academic probation for the entire year. "I don't know how he did it," one of them marvels. "It was a beautiful sleight-of-hand...
...expect much from the adviser system, then. Most freshmen who still need academic advice, after talking with their adviser, see their proctor or take their questions straight to a professor in a field they're interested in. He or she is usually surprised and flattered...
...proctor system, though, actually works, although exactly what it accomplishes is multi-faceted. Freshmen need basic information; proctors provide it. Freshmen are often confused about their academic aspirations and frantically insecure about the social expectations they've set for themselves; proctors can give them support and encouragement. Freshmen get into unbelievable tangles with roommates they didn't choose; proctors can help unravel the knots. Freshmen have just left the security of their families, some of them for the first time in their lives; proctors often become surrogate parents. Beyond these obvious functions there may be something more. Every year Harvard...