Women Still Mad At HEW

Final federal acceptance two weeks ago of Harvard's affirmative action hiring plan hardly stilled the three-year chorus of calls for greater hiring equity here.

In fact, it released a storm of protest from the local chapter of the National Organization of Women--filer of the original suit charging Harvard with discrimination--and Women Employed at Harvard, a group formed last spring.

The thrust of the women's attack on the still-to-be implemented plan was that the procedures set forth for increasing the percentages of women, blacks and other minorities were fuzzy and inadequate. They proposed no implementation until Harvard's $250,000 plan has gone back to the drawing board.

"The plan is weak and inadequate and it just doesn't make any sense to implement a weak plan, especially when other organizations have demonstrated that top-notch plans can be created," Delda White, temporary chairwoman of WEH, said Tuesday.

Both NOW and WEH complained of three major inadequacies in the plan: the lack of encouragement for women to enter management training programs, cumbersome and intimidating grievance procedures, and the lack of a thorough review of salary inequities.

John G. Bynoe, regional director for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare which approved the plan, replied Tuesday that he thought the plan was an adequate "roadmap" for Harvard and said, "You can't really object to a plan until it's implemented."

The women's groups apparently disagree, and right now they are a significant roadblock on Harvard's roadmap.