Horner Says Merger Depends On Women Retaining Voice

President Horner told the Radcliffe Alumnae Council yesterday that any merger agreement resulting in "the loss of equal opportunity and voice for women" would not be acceptable to the Radcliffe community.

Speaking at the council's biennial meeting, Horner advocated "equal access" to education and criticized "any kind of corporate relationship that would have to be one of submerger."

Horner said, "Our women have nothing to be apologetic about. It would not be an appropriate or meaningful relationship with Harvard to see the loss of identity for Radcliffe. I would not find absorption by the male bastion an acceptable position."

Horner said interpretation and implementation of the 1971 merger-non-merger agreement has been her most time-consuming and important responsibility during the past two years and emphasized the need to "de-mythify" the current Harvard-Radcliffe relationship.

Harvard-Radcliffe Myths

She said that contrary to what many people think, the current arrangement between Harvard and Radcliffe is still under review and added that "Radcliffe is not a financial albatross for Harvard."

Horner also said that the merger issue is a highly complex one and she takes it "for granted that whatever recommendations the Strauch Committee will make will be directed toward aiding women here and will challenge and encourage them to develop."

"We must put women in touch with their innermost aspirations and how they're going about fulfilling them," Horner said.

Outside World

Judith B. Walzer, director of the Office of Women's Education, spoke at the meeting and also emphasized the importance of orienting Radcliffe women to the realities of "the outside world."

"Women who are systematically discriminated against in certain careers can't afford the luxury of not being aware of what's happening," Walzer said.