Radcliffe: The Unanswered Question

THEY THINK they've really done it this time.

Radcliffe officials hope that a report they issued recently, outlining "Directions for the 1990s," will settle the Radcliffe Question once and for all. "We're trying to get it so that no one will ever ask that question again," said the college's spokesperson, Aida K. Press.

And their answer to the question of what Radcliffe College is today? "Radcliffe College is a distinguished educational institution with a unique partnership with Harvard. It is a comprehensive center for the advancement of women. It is a powerful symbol of women's significance and potential."

Some answer.

THE WHOLE REASON the question keeps coming up is vague, substanceless statements just like that. Of course, Radcliffe is a distinguished educational institution with a unique partnership with Harvard. Who ever said it wasn't? What people are really asking for is a clearer definition of that "unique" partnership, and that is precisely what the Radcliffe administration keeps failing to provide.

In particular, most people who ask what Radcliffe College is are wondering what it is to undergraduates. Certainly Radcliffe is widely recognized as a distinguished center for research on and by women. But the college's original purpose, namely providing undergraduate women with access to a Harvard education, was achieved when the student bodies of the two institutions were fully consolidated in the early 1970s. And since at that time Radcliffe ceded to Harvard the responsibility for day-to-day details of female student life--food, housing, advising--it is unclear what exactly its relation to undergraduates is today.

The report, produced after a year-and-a-half-long study by Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson and her associates, sheds little new light on the question. Instead, it delivers the same old line about female undergraduates possessing "dual citizenship with full privileges in both colleges." This claim is dubious, at best. For some women students, the joint Harvard-Radcliffe diploma they receive at Commencement is the extent of their involvement with Radcliffe. Somehow that doesn't quite seem like dual citizenship.

In a written statement following the fatal stabbing of Bunting Fellow Mary Joe Frug earlier this month, Wilson said, "The reaction of the entire Radcliffe community is one of shock, sadness and anger." But what is that "entire Radcliffe community" for which she speaks? Many would interpret that phrase as meaning the group of administrators, staff members and visiting scholars who work at Radcliffe, as well as the active members of organizations like the Radcliffe Union of Students.

Most undergraduate women today probably do not think of themselves as members of a Radcliffe community. In response to concerns that were raised by Frug's death about campus security, where did Wilson increase security precautions? In Radcliffe Yard and the Cronkhite Center area. For a "college," Radcliffe appears to be retreating to a sphere of influence that is decidedly non-undergraduate.

Wilson's report concludes that the choices facing Radcliffe--between undergraduate and graduate programs--are by no means mutually exclusive: "Radcliffe College need not choose between its commitment to undergraduate education and its investment in advanced study and research; quite the contrary: Each of these functions is vitally important to the other."

And few would suggest that the college relinquish its responsibilities in either of these areas. Wilson's strategic planning team is right: Radcliffe doesn't need to choose one or the other. What it does need to do is follow through on both commitments. Right now, Radcliffe administrators are in no danger of neglecting the college's research and scholarship programs. But they are over-due to prove their commitment to undergraduates.

It would be a tragedy for Radcliffe, with its rich history and resources, to let its potential role in undergraduates' educations slip away. It is pledged to maintain both of these goals, and it should honor that pledge.

WILSON CLAIMS that Radcliffe is as strong an advocate for women's issues as ever. "We have been taking a strong voice. It just takes a while for the students to notice," she said recently. "We don't always do it in the Harvard community where students will notice."

Radcliffe may be taking a strong stand on women's issues somewhere. But not around here. The report talks about working to improve the "environment" for women at Harvard. Yet on questions of crucial importance to female undergraduates--for instance, establishing date rape workshops for incoming first-year students and improving the escort service--Linda Wilson and her colleagues have been strangely silent. They are going to have to come up with more than slick public relations phrases if they are really interested in improving the environment for women here. And if they aren't, they should at least be honest about it.

I have news for you, Aida Press. You haven't heard the last of that pesky old question yet.

Maggie S. Tucker '93 covered minority and women's issues for The Crimson last year.

Radcliffe officials have yet to provide a clear definition of the college's 'unique' partnership with Harvard.