May 27, 1981

Columbia College, the Ivy League's only remaining all-male college, will soon begin accepting women unless Barnard College, its sister institution, agrees to more coeducation. In an interview, Michael I. Sovern, the president of Columbia University, said that single-sex undergrduate educataon was ''anachronistic'' and that he would like to begin accepting female undergraduates as early as the fall of 1983. Given the longstanding relationship between the two schools, however, he said that another solution would be to increase the amount of contact in the dormitories, dining rooms and classrooms between the 2,850 Columbia and 2,500 Barnard students. ''Columbia College will become a coeducational institution,'' he said. ''The only issue is whether this will be accomplished unilaterally or in collaboration with Barnard. I have left that choice to Barnard.''

The nation's three largest auto manufacturers today reported an increase in sales of 9.8 percent over last year in the May 11-20 selling period, but analysts were not encouraged by the increase. Harvey Heinbach of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith said the sales results were ''very, very bad.'' ''The same period last year was the pits, about the bottom,'' of Detroit's automotive depression, and sales have not improved to acceptable levels, he added. While some analysts disagree, Arvid Jouppi, an analyst for John Muir & Company, said that the recent rise in prime lending rates had affected sales. ''People just don't visit the showroom when interest rates go above 18 percent,'' he said.

Two Soviet astronauts piloted their Soyuz-T 4 spacecraft to a soft landing in Central Asia yesterday for the successful conclusion of the final mission to the Earth-orbiting Salyut 6 space station, which for nearly four years has been the sturdy base for record-setting tests of human endurance and the centerpiece of the Russian space program. Even though the Soviet Union has not said so officially, another space station is expected to replace the 21-ton cylindrical Salyut 6, which is about the size of a small mobile home. According to American analysts of the Soviet program, the new vehicle could be more complex and capable of being enlarged through attached modules. 4 Test Flights Successful Further evidence that the Russians may have reached a transition point in their space program was a statement made last week by a Soviet astronaut, Leonid Popov, that there would be no more flights with the old-model Soyuz spacecraft.

An article on Monday reporting the marriage of Dr. Arnold Jan Levine incorrectly identified the bride. She was Felicia Alta Zimmerman.

A 25-year-old Army private already under indictment in the fatal shooting of three black men in Buffalo was indicted yesterday in the murder of a dark-skinned Hispanic man, one of four men stabbed to death on Dec. 22 in mid-Manhattan. The soldier, Joseph G. Christopher, was also charged with the nonfatal stabbing of a black man the same day. District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau of Manhattan, who announced the latest indictments at a news conference, said the investigation was continuing in an effort to see whether Private Christopher, who is white, was linked to the three other murders of blacks and another nonfatal knifing of a black during an eight-hour period on Dec. 22. Held in Buffalo Jail Private Christopher was charged with the murder of Luis Rodriguez, 19, of 1704 Seward Avenue, the Bronx. The soldier, who has pleaded not guilty to the upstate slayings, is being held in the Erie County Jail in Buffalo. He will be brought to New York City in a few weeks for arraignment, officials said.