Banner readers weigh in on lasting impact of Harvard’s Evans
Thanks for your heartwarming article on Harvard senior admissions officer David L. Evans (“Now Harvard’s gatekeeper, Evans recalls Arkansas roots,” Oct. 4, 2007). I was in the first large increase of African American students at Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges.
My classmates and I are eternally grateful to Dave for his efforts and his belief in us. Many of us have gone on to earn post-doctoral degrees, and it seems that multiple Harvard degrees are almost the rule. But I think the thing that binds us most is the love and affection that he has for us and we have for him.
The rapid growth of the David Evans Scholarship Fund is just one testament to the affection we have for him and our gratitude at finding a way to show him and Harvard what he has meant to us. We realize that the university community and the world beyond have an absolute treasure in this man.
Darryl T. Gray
Via e-mail
Thank you for Brian Wright O’Connor’s profile of Dave Evans. Though his official role at Harvard is focused on college applicants, Evans is legendary among Harvard students for being a mentor and friend during their four years of college, and he is prized by alumni for the friendship and moral support that follows them for the rest of their lives.
It’s impossible for him to walk through Harvard Square without some student yelling “Dave!” and running over to seek advice, to share the news of a triumph, or simply to check in with someone whose mere presence is immensely comforting. He is regularly spotted in the undergraduate dining halls, where he is surrounded by students, or at alumni gatherings, where he is mobbed by graduates. Somehow he remembers the thousands of faces as well as the names and lives attached to them. This never looks like the feat of an expert memory, for Dave Evans makes everyone feel as if he or she has never been forgotten.
Jacob Slichter
Harvard Class of 1983
I welcomed the opportunity to read the article about the senior admissions officer at Harvard University, Mr. David Evans. Sometimes we forget the effect that just one person who cares can have on a particular population, or how that person came to be influential.
In the article about Mr. Evans, I learned both, and am truly inspired by his consistency over time.
Most people think that, as a black man, Mr. Evans recruits minorities only. However, it should be noted that he chooses the “Talented Tenth” for the world from the world’s total pool, not from a select minority pool. That is quite a thought and quite a position to be in — he has to find simply the best, often to the exclusion of similarly qualified students, regardless of their ethnicity.
George Chainey Jr.
Via e-mail
