Women's Groups to Kick Off First RUS Initiative

Members of women's groups from across campus will gather tonight in the Lyman Common room to kick off the Radcliffe Union of Students' (RUS) First Annual Women's Initiative.

The three-day series of events involving women's groups starts on the same evening that Associate Dean of the College Karen E. Avery '87 plans to address student concerns about the Ann Radcliffe Trust in a "town meeting" open to all students.

RUS published the initiative's schedule of events in a purple-covered packet distributed to the Houses. The packet includes a comprehensive list of campus women's groups and a ballot inviting students to vote on what future course RUS should take in light of Radcliffe College's merger with Harvard.

Officially, RUS no longer has any students of its own to govern. Without funds from the now defunct $5 term bill fee charged to undergraduate women, the future of RUS seemed tentative at best.

But in organizing the initiative--something they say plan to do every year--RUS asserts itself as a group that is not going to leave campus quietly.

"RUS will definitely be around in the coming years," said Kathryn B. Clancy '01, co-chair of RUS. "We might have to change our name, but we will keep Radcliffe no matter what."

On the first page of the women's initiative pamphlet, RUS says: "With the merger of Harvard and Radcliffe, the issues of undergraduate women have been largely ignored."

The pamphlet goes on to say that the RUS initiative will be a "consciousness-raising effort to bring issues of gender to the forefront of campus discussion."

Clancy says that the Trust--seen by some as a replacement for RUS--will not foster the type of community women's groups enjoyed under RUS's reign.

"We wanted the initiative to prove that there is this community and to prove that this community needs to stay alive," Clancy said.

The pamphlet asks students to vote on a number of different incarnations the RUS of the future could take. Options range from "Radcliffe Union of Students should begin a campaign to raise an endowment from the Radcliffe College Alumni Association so that we can continue our discussions and grants as usual" to a blank space for written suggestions.

The women's initiative starts today and runs through Friday. It includes an "Eat-In" in front of the Science Center on Thursday sponsored by Eating Concerns Hotline and Outreach, and a holiday reception with the Seneca, an all-women social group founded last year, on the MAC quad Friday afternoon.

Clancy says the events are "meant to [find] little pockets of women's community spread throughout campus" and "[make] it easier for groups to interact."

Alexis B. Karteron '01, co-chair of the Coalition Against Sexual Violence, said she looks forward to interacting with groups focused on women's issues.

"It's a great way to raise awareness and provide a niche for women," she said.

After the kick-off gathering tonight in Lyman Common room, RUS plans to attend the "town meeting" with Avery. Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68, Acting Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Mary Maples Dunn and Special Assistant to Dean Lewis Julia G. Fox will also be at the Trust meeting.

"A lot of effects of Radcliffe leaving now [are] psychological," Clancy said, "The concrete changes are coming."