Radcliffe: A Fading Community?

"Most undergraduates will tell you that Radcliffe doesn't exist anymore," says Mary C. Megliola '88, summing up what she sees as the prevalent attitude among her women peers toward the 107-year-old institution.

"Sometimes I think I'm the only one who feels any sense of community [at Radcliffe] and I have no one to share it with," adds Megliola, who became involved with Radcliffe and now holds a work-study job in its Office of Publications.

Indeed, many Radcliffe affiliates say that the sense of community at Radcliffe today is difficult to define, and many go so far as to say it no longer exists. With male students living in the Radcliffe Quadrangle and women on campus referring to themselves as "Harvard students," the days of the sisterhood between Radcliffe women seem to have dissappeared.

"Yes, the closeness [among Radcliffe women] has disappeared," agrees Dean of Radcliffe College Philippa A. Bovet. She cites co-educational housing, implemented in 1971, as one of the factors behind the change in atmosphere. "With any change there's always a trade-off," she says.

"It's not a physical community or one that you can define," says Evelyn R. Swett '88, head of the Radcliffe House Intern Program, describing her view of the Radcliffe community.

Swett adds that although the bond she feels with other Radcliffe women is not tangible or easily describable, she finds a concrete sense of community in Radcliffe College. "I see a small college atmosphere within Fay House. It's a place where you can walk in and people know your name," she says.

A Radcliffe community centered around the institution's scholarly resources does exist, many people associated with Radcliffe say.

Those who say they are aware of Radcliffe usually cite resources such as the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library which collects books and manuscripts on the history of women in America. Other notable programs include the Henry S. Murray Research Center, which specializes in the study of social-science issues relating to women, and the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute, the nation's largest post-doctoral fellowship program for women.

Radcliffe also offers various non-academic programs geared specifically toward women undergraduates. The school offers a spring-break externship program which gives students the opportunity to live and work with an alumna and a mentor program which introduces undergraduates to "role-model" alumnae in the Boston area. The college also dispenses funding for special projects for which any undergraduate may apply.

In addition, each undergraduate house has a few Radcliffe interns who serve as liaisons between Radcliffe and undergraduates. The student-run program sponsors movies, discussions and lectures in each of the houses and "makes Radcliffe seem less remote," Swett says.

Yet, many students say they are unaware of Radcliffe resources and others say they do not take advantage of these because they do not want to be associated with Radcliffe.

"I don't think of myself as a Radcliffe student, and I don't take advantage of Radcliffe," says Carolyn H. Hax '88. She, like many other female undergraduates, says she feels that associating with the all-women Radcliffe community is somehow an admission of weakness or inferiority in the overall Harvard community.

"The fact that we would need a Radcliffe community for strength is admitting that you don't feel you have a place at Harvard," she says.

While she admits that women do not necessarily have a place equal to their male peers at Harvard, she thinks that the formation of a Radcliffe bond to overcome these barriers is not the solution. "Where we are excluded, you have to deal with it on an individual basis, not an institutional one," she says.

"My mom went to Radcliffe and was always angry that the men at Harvard got better treatment, so I'm happy to say that I can go to Harvard," says Nicole L. Gueron '90. She adds that as a freshman, she feels little sense of Radcliffe community among her female classmates.

"It's a joke," Gueron says. "They [Radcliffe] sent freshwomen a letter about how they're giving out Radcliffe mugs and people were laughing." Many of her friends actively do not like the idea of a separate Radcliffe community, she says. "Most female students would be resentful and would say 'Don't treat me as any different from one of the guys,'" Gueron says.

Indeed, stereotypes of the Radcliffe Woman as the "bitchy Cliffie" or the radical feminist still exist, making many women reluctant to assert their Radcliffe allegiances. As one student says, "The only time Radclffe exists is when the guys want to make fun of us."

President of Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) Eileen R. Walsh '88 says she finds part of the Radcliffe stereotype is "being sharp, being in control and being strong." Adding that in many ways this image is intimidating, she says this problem of labelling is not exclusive to the Radcliffe community.

"Many women's organizations will have limited membership because women will not want to identify with the stereotype that they or those around them give to that particular group," Walsh says. She adds that RUS's goal is to foster a sense of community by bringing together women from various organizations so that they become aware of what their peers are doing.

Technically, every female undergraduate belongs to RUS, the institution's student government. RUS sponsors conferences on women's issues and establishes committees, including the Women's Studies Committee. RUS is also responsible for organizing the annual "Take Back the Night" rallies as well as the freshman-week barbeque for incoming students.

While most undergraduates ignore or even laugh off the idea of a separate women's community, "there are women, a substantial amount, for whom that community does exist," Walsh says. She adds that as society moves farther away from the 1970s with the women's movement and the pressure for equal opportunity, "Women are going to see the need to rely on each other."

"Not everybody has the attitude of 'Let's fight those men,'" Swett says. For a lot of people "it's just helpful to sit and talk with other women about their common experiences at Radcliffe," she adds.

As for students who actively resist being involved with a women's community because they think it somehow admits to not being a "Harvard person," President of Radcliffe College Matina S. Horner says that Radcliffe makes a real committment to its students, "not as a separatist issue but out of a real belief in the talents of women."

Horner equates the attitude of those who feel associating with Radcliffe is a sign of weakness with immigrants who change their names in an effort to assimilate. "It's denying one's identity in order to feel full and equal," she says.

Megliola says she feels students who reject their Radcliffe status are being disloyal. Pointing out that Radcliffe "has worked for over 100 years to give its students equal access to a Harvard education," she says many undergraduates "turn their backs on the instituiton that got them where they are."

The lack of communication is another obstacle in creating a sense of Radcliffe community. Horner says, "I don't think we can ever expect women to take advantage of something they don't know about."

"Radcliffe has to make itself more visible," Walsh agrees. She admits that it is harder for a women's community to assert itself at Harvard then at all-women's institutions, but feels that the community on campus could be stronger. "There's a responsibility among the students to have on some level an awareness and seek out a women's community," Walsh says.

Others emphasize, however, that unwillingness on the part of students to take advantage of Radcliffe's resources is not a communication failure on Radcliffe's part.

Aida K. Press, director of public information at Radcliffe, says that students do not have to seek out what is available. "Just because one doesn't go to the art museum regularly doesn't mean that it's less of a community or that the art museum is at fault," says the editor of the Radcliffe Quarterly. The many opportunities that Harvard and Boston offer make it impossible for every Radcliffe student to become involved with the community.

Some suggest that the houses may have replaced the sense of community that Radcliffe once provided. "Perhaps the houses provide the kind of community that Radcliffe once did," Bovet says. But she adds that a women's community is important and that "women should refound ways to be connected."

Whether a student feels she is a part of Radcliffe "depends on who you are and where you're coming from," Press says. Those with a strong sense of who they are as women will have a stronger sense of community at Radclife, she says.

"There is still a sense of having a relationship to other Radcliffe women, but it doesn't mean that everybody has it," Press says.

Students who take advantage of Radcliffe and its many resources agree that a community with other women does exist for those persistent students who seek it out and that it is beneficial for the women involved.

RUS vice-chairman Amanda E. Atkinson '89, says she finds a women's community "forms a safety net." She says that other women are "people to do fun stuff with but they're also there to support you."

"It's tempting to say `I'm a Harvard student' and not be grouped separately, but it's really the best of both worlds--you have all the advantages of a women's college plus Harvard," Megliola says.