Radcliffe Lesbians to Convene All-Ivy Conference at Harvard

The Radcliffe Lesbians will sponsor a two-day conference this April, inviting delegates from lesbian organizations at the all Ivy League and Seven Sisters colleges.

The conference, funded by a $375 grant that the Radcliffe Union of Students allocated to The Radcliffe Lesbians last fall, is the first of its kind at Harvard, Jill B. Puscas '79, a member of The Radcliffe Lesbians, said yesterday.

Lesbian organizations from Yale, Swarthmore, Sarah Lawrence, and all Seven Sisters colleges have accepted the invitation, a member of The Radcliffe Lesbians said yesterday.

Puscas said the group expects between 100 and 200 women to attend.

"The central purpose behind the conference," Sarah Rabkin '79, a member of the group said, "is to bring together isolated women on eastern campuses and develop a sense of strength and unity."

"At the very least, the conference is a tremendous spoof on the Ivy League college as the bastion of male authority and respectability," a member who asked to remain anonymous, said yesterday.

Interest in the conference fluctuated widely from school to school, members of the group said. Mt. Holyoke plans to send 40 to 60 delegates, while only six representatives from Yale plan to attend. The Radcliffe Lesbians selected Olga Broumas, winner of the Yale-Younger-Poets award in 1976, as their main speaker, Puscas said. Broumas will recite poetry from her book, "Beginnings of O," a collection of poetry on lesbianism.

Broumas said yesterday she was pleased to accept the honor and added, "It is very important that Ivy League institutions acknowledge the fact that they have a large lesbian population. We aren't just, as people like to believe, in the world of the lower classes; we are everywhere."