Radcliffe Trust Awards Grants

The Ann Radcliffe Trust doled out its first official grants this month to student groups with an interest in women's issues. The Trust awarded $4,050 of the roughly $20,000 it can distribute this year.

Thirteen groups out of 16 that applied received funding. Two groups received awards of $500 dollars, the largest sum awarded.

The magazine Diversity and Distinction received $500 to publish an issue devoted to women. Latinas Unidas also received $500 to organize a conference entitled "Latin@Crossroads."

The smallest grant, $150, went to Students for Choice to make an informational display in the Science Center about the U.S. presidential candidates' voting records on abortion-related issues. The group also received a second grant of $250 to fund a panel presentation.

Most groups received considerably less than they asked for in the grant application. Radcliffe Rugby, for instance, asked for $700 and received $400.

Only the Women's Leadership Project (WLP) received the full amount it asked for, $350, to pay for an upcoming concert featuring female performers.

And although members of the Trust's Student-Faculty advisory committee have said they want to steer clear of funding groups' operational costs, preferring instead to give money for specific events, Radcliffe Rugby's $400 was granted for "general team expenses."

Stacie K. Persons '02, president of Radcliffe Rugby, said she was surprised her group received the money considering the Trust's publicly expressed desire to steer clear of operational expenses.

"We actually weren't expecting to get the money at all," she said. "We were under the impression that the Trust was for specific events."

The Trust has somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000 left in grant money for its three remaining funding rounds this year, in December, February and April.

The majority of the Trust's grant funds come from a gift of $50,000 made this summer by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

The Trust defines its mission as raising awareness of women's issues at Harvard and beyond. In its capacity as a funding source for student groups, it has taken over the funding role of the Radcliffe Union of Students.

But many of the student groups that received funding from the Trust in this round of grant applications also have representatives on the group's Student-Faculty advisory committee.

In fact, the committee is structured so that several campus women's groups have a post on the committee each year.

Of the four slots reserved for groups this year, three of them--Latinas Unidas, WLP and Women in Science at Harvard-Radcliffe--received money from the grants process.

A subcommittee of the Student-Faculty advisory committee made the grant selections for this round of funding. The sub-committee members included Director of the Trust and Assistant Dean of Harvard College Karen E. Avery '87; Julia G. Fox, special assistant to the Dean of Harvard College; Aruna D. Balakrishnan '03; Svetla I. Gueorguieva '02 and Maryanthe E. Malliaris '01.

But rather than creating a situation where a conflict of interest might arise, WLP co-chair and advisory committee member Erin B. Ashwell '02 said she thought the crossover between women's group leaders and the Trust advisory committee was natural.

"It does not seem unreasonable, if the groups' missions are significantly intertwined," she said. "I didn't write the grant application to the Trust, and I think that kind of separation is good."

Ashwell did note that she thought students who were applying for Trust funds should not sit on the grant selection subcommittee.

"It seems kind of basic that you can't read grant applications for grant money you applied for," she said.

In addition to the formal grant money, the Trust has about $30,000 in discretionary funds.

The Women's Initiatives Network (WIN), a newly-formed network of already established campus women's groups, did not receive the funding it asked for through the grants process.

But WIN coordinator Shauna L. Shames '01 said she received a letter from Avery saying that "other support will be provided from the Ann Radcliffe Trust" for the group.

Though Shames said the letter did not specify what kind of support the group would receive, she said she assumes it would be monetary.

WIN--which includes the WLP, the Coalition Against Sexual Violence and Girlspot--wants to undertake a long- term project of chronicling the status of women at Harvard.

--Staff writer Joyce K. McIntyre can be reached at jmcintyr@fas.harvard.edu.