Harvard University announced Tuesday that it plans to discontinue its early-admission program. The decision rekindles a national debate about controversial polices allowing some students, usually the wealthiest, to receive an admissions decision months before regular applicants. A Harvard spokesperson said the move will allow more low-income and minority students to apply. But some college administrators said they doubted the announcement would revolutionize the admissions field so much as bring good publicity for the nation's oldest university. Critics of early-admission plans have complained that elite colleges now admit at east two-fifths of their applicants through early programs.