Harvard and the "Annex"

The meeting of the Board of Overseers yesterday resulted in an agreement to carry out the arrangements proposed in a letter from Arthur Gilman, secretary of the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women. The letter, addressed to President Eliot, is dated November 1, 1893, and runs as follows:

"At the annual meeing of our society held last evening your letters to Mrs. Agassiz dated July 8 and October 27 were read by her, and the following votes were passed, which we believe to be in accordance with your letters:

"Voted, That it is desirable to change the name of this corporation to Radcliffe College and that proper legal steps be taken to effect that change.

"Voted, That it is desirable that this corporation give degrees in arts and sciences and that a committee of three persons be appointed by the president to take steps to obtain from the legislature the necessary power.

"Voted, That the president and fellows of Harvard College be and hereby are made and appointed the visitors of this corporation and are hereby vested with all visitorial power and authority as fully as if the same had been originally conferred upon the said president and fellows by the charter or articles of association of this corporation. This vote shall take effect upon an acceptance by the said president and fellows of the powers hereby conferred, but with the provision that the said president and fellows at any time may abandon and surrender or limit such powers upon notice to this corporation.

"Voted, That no instructor or examiner of this corporation shall be appointed, employed or retained without the approval of the visitors of this corporation manifested in such way as said visitors may prescribe.

"Voted, That in case the president and fellows of Harvard College accept the powers conferred by the foregoing vote, the said president and fellows be requested to empower the president of Harvard University to countersign the diplomas of this corporation and to affix the seal of Harvard University to said diplomas.

"We shall be very glad to hear that the corresponding action has been taken by the corporation and Board of Overseers, when we shall be ready to proceed ourselves in accordance with these votes."

It will be seen that the obstacles in the way of the immediate fulfillment of this agreement to which the overseers have now consented, lie in the first two propositions of Mr. Gilman's letter,- the change of name and the conferring of degrees. These privileges can not be obtained without legislative action, but there is little danger that this will be refused. As soon as the necessary action has been taken, the agreement will go into effect finally.

The newspaper articles would give the impression that some change will be noticeable from the old state of affairs to the new. This, however, is not the case. For years the Annex has followed the courses of Harvard College, and all instruction has been given by professors and instructors of Harvard. The same plan will be pursued when the Annex changes its name; and the only apparent difference will be in the degree. Hitherto the Society for the Collegiate instruction of Women has been able to give nothing beyond a certificate stating that the graduate has performed the work required for the degree at Harvard. In the future, they will not only confer a degree of their own, but this degree will be made doubly valuable by bearing the seal of Harvard University.

The statements in the newspapers to the effect that students of the Annex under the new agreement will be admitted to the full privileges of the University, are absolutedly incorrect. They have already given outsiders the idea that something like co-education is to be put into practice here, while in reality the distinction between the Annex and the college is to remain exactly as at present.

It is interesting to note the change of the official name to Radcliffe College. Investigations which have recently been made, revealed the fact that the first woman who ever gave money to Harvard was, by her maiden name, Anne Radcliffe. Her bequest of L100 was made in the year 1640; and it seemed desirable to Mrs. Agassiz, the president of the present society, that a college for the education of women should remember, in the days of its prosperity, the first woman who showed an active interest in educational institutions.