Radcliffe Starts Merger Fund For Sex-Blind Scholarships

The Radcliffe College Fund office has approved a new scholarship fund intended to speed the merger of the Harvard and Radcliffe Financial Aid Offices.

Spurred by a proposal from six Radcliffe seniors, the office last week established a "merger fund" to be open to all undergraduates regardless of sex.

All donations to the fund will be impounded, however, until Harvard and Radcliffe have merged completely or "until such time as there is a single admissions office, a single financial aid office and a single administration for all undergraduates," the fund's prospectus reads.

Scholarship funds for men and women in the past have been handled separately by the Harvard and Radcliffe Fund offices.

The six senior women proposed the new fund to call attention to the need for merger, Margaret V. Sachs '73, one of the seniors, said yesterday.

Sachs said that the new fund should tap resources currently unavailable to Radcliffe because "many women hesitate to contribute to Radcliffe during the unclear non-merger merger phase."

Lagging Participation

She noted that the Radcliffe Class of '73 has contributed about $700 to scholarships in its senior solicitation drive, while last year's seniors gave a total of $3252.

Several spokesmen in the Radcliffe Fund office said yesterday that the current drive is lagging decidedly behind last year's in student participation, but did not blame the lag on ambivalence toward Radcliffe's present status.

Solicitation for the new fund may cut into the ongoing drive for women's scholarships, but "the long-run gains of merger should outweigh the temporary benefits of separate funds," Sachs said. "We do not support the status quo; we do support complete merger."

She cited "equity in scholarships, fellowships, admissions, and the 'psychic gains' from full integration" as the advantages that women would gain from merger.

If senior men wish to contribute to the "merger fund," the Radcliffe fund office will have to arrange the cross-donating with Harvard, in conjunction with the non-merger merger agreement. Radcliffe fund administrators said that several men living at Radcliffe this year have donated to Radcliffe's fund instead of Harvard's.

Scholarships established under the merger fund will be released in 15 years, if merger has not taken effect by that time.