Advocate, Review Staffs Elect Women Presidents

The nation's oldest college litarary publication. The Harvard Advocate, elected Sarah V. Chace '80 as its first female president this week. Linda J. Bilmes '80 was elected the second female president of the Harvard Political Review.

Chace said that it was "simply accidental" that the 112-year-old Advocate is one of the last organizations on campus to have a female leadership, adding that women have been members for about 20 years.

There will be no automatic changes in the Advocate because she is a women, Chace said, adding that she hopes to make The Advocate more accessible and diverse. She said she hopes to continue the growth of the magazine and its audience, while trying to work more amicably with other people and organizations.

Richard Nally '79, the current president, stressed that Chace's "great imagination and tremendous vitality" combined with a better financial base and the new board will enable The Advocate to improve greatly and reach more people.

The changes at the Review will be limited, Bilmes said. She said there will be more polish, order and graphics to make it more appealing, and she will try to organize the magazine better to make it more readable. The only change relating to her being female is that she will try to get more women to work on the magazine.

Bilmes' predecessor, Mike Circone '79, says that there will not be that great a change, but Bilmes' "dynamic qualities" and the Review's financial progress will allow an all-around expansion of the Review.

When asked to comment on the number of Harvard organizations--The Crimson, the Independent, the Republican Club, the Democratic Review and others--that have elected female presidents on the year of the celebration of Radcliffe's centennial, most of the presidents and presidents-elect said it was nice but not very significant, though it did show the decrease in separation between Harvard and Radcliffe. Some said that regardless of the numbers of high positions women hold, there are still too few women in the rank and file of Harvard organizations.