Radcliffe Is Silent On Future Changes

After months of negotiations about converting Radcliffe College into a research institute, all of the College's undergraduate programs are go for the fall and officials are saying little about the 119-year-old institution's future.

"I'm happy to tell you that there's no developments," said Michael A. Armini, a Radcliffe spokesperson. "I don't have any news."

This comes five months after The Boston Globe first reported that Harvard and Radcliffe were renegotiating their historic 1977 agreement, in which Radcliffe achieved equal access to Harvard's classrooms and facilities for female undergraduates.

President of Radcliffe College Linda S. Wilson has been on vacation in Maine for most of the summer and Nancy-Beth G. Sheer '71, chair of the Board of Trustees, has not returned phone calls from The Crimson for over a month, because she has nothing to report, according to Lyn Chamberlin, director of communications for Radcliffe.

For now, undergraduate education programs, which were a point of concern among some College students and Radcliffe alumnae, are planned for the coming year as usual.

"[The programs] are going on and most of them are expanding," said Director of Undergraduate Education Programs Tamar March. "And we have every intention of continuing them in the future."

For instance, Harvard Radcliffe Science Alliance, a four day program for incoming first-year women that prepares them for the sciences at Harvard, already has 35 students signed up.

Radcliffe observers say all this could represent merely a summer slow down or a more substantial snag in the negotiation process. Whichever, no major changes seem imminent. The official word is that, with so many top people on vacation, it is difficult to make progress.

And because the issues surrounding a merger are complex, with each side having serious concerns, negotiations may ultimately take time.

Both sides want to clarify the rela- tionship, but Radcliffe may be asking a highprice in return for access to its donor base andits many assets, and Harvard may be concernedabout making a sound financial deal.

After reports broke in the media about theproposed restructuring, many alumnae expressedconcern about being left out of discussions whileothers disapproved--many for sentimentalreasons--of altering their undergraduateinstitution.

Alumnae gathering at Radcliffe on June 6, theday after Commencement, voiced disapproval of theway the planning process is being handled. "Therewas a kind of rump revolt," said Adeline Naiman'46, a member of the Radcliffe Club of Boston.Wilson wrote in bold faced letters in a June 18letter to alumnae that "no hasty or precipitousactions will occur."

"I think the administration has been trying tomake amends in sending out communications toalumnae," Naiman said. "I think they will at leastpay lip service to what is expressed."

For now, Radcliffe is continuing to pose as anundergraduate college.

In November, a Vanity Fair spread withpresidents from the Seven Sister Colleges, whoLinda Wilson will be pictured among, will bepublished, according to The Globe.

Right now it appears as if Radcliffe is in aholding pattern, but the pause button could go offanytime

After reports broke in the media about theproposed restructuring, many alumnae expressedconcern about being left out of discussions whileothers disapproved--many for sentimentalreasons--of altering their undergraduateinstitution.

Alumnae gathering at Radcliffe on June 6, theday after Commencement, voiced disapproval of theway the planning process is being handled. "Therewas a kind of rump revolt," said Adeline Naiman'46, a member of the Radcliffe Club of Boston.Wilson wrote in bold faced letters in a June 18letter to alumnae that "no hasty or precipitousactions will occur."

"I think the administration has been trying tomake amends in sending out communications toalumnae," Naiman said. "I think they will at leastpay lip service to what is expressed."

For now, Radcliffe is continuing to pose as anundergraduate college.

In November, a Vanity Fair spread withpresidents from the Seven Sister Colleges, whoLinda Wilson will be pictured among, will bepublished, according to The Globe.

Right now it appears as if Radcliffe is in aholding pattern, but the pause button could go offanytime