A Fairer Fay and Frothingham

The Fay Prize, traditionally bestowed upon an undergraduate woman who has shown scholarship, conduct and character, will not be given this year while Harvard and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study wrangle over the institutional policy problems that have arisen since this fall's merger between the two schools. It is unfortunate that the Fay Prize will not be given to a deserving member of the Class of 2000. It is more unfortunate, however, that either male or female students are ineligible for a large number of prizes awarded by the University. Either these prizes should be opened to both men and women, or new, equivalent prizes should be offered to remove the discrepancy.

After a 1977 agreement between Harvard and Radcliffe College, most prizes formerly designated exclusively for men or women became open to both sexes. In some cases, however, where a donor's intent had been to honor specifically a man or a woman, the sex prerequisite prevailed. Such was the case of the Frothingham Award, for which one of the selection criteria is "manliness." Now the Frothingham Award is also under review, as Harvard attorneys determine whether it is possible to award the prize to women as well.

As a rule, undergraduate prizes should be open to both men and women without bias. However, there is a clear imbalance between the number of prizes available solely to women and men. The Frothingham is just one example of a prize open only to men; in addition, there are a number of departmental awards and University-wide prizes exclusively given to male undergraduates, including the Shaw Fellowship, the Barbara Miller Solomon Prize, the William J. Bingham Prize, the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, the Korean War Memorial Prize and the John P. Reardon Prize. Some male-only prizes have a female equivalent; others do not. This imbalance must be addressed.

The University (and the Institute as a part of the University) is legally beholden to its prize donors to preserve the conditions attached to a prize--thus the reason why the Frothingham might remain for men only. However, the stark gender imbalance among the prizes should encourage the University to reexamine the original language of prize criteria and do as much as it can within the letter of its obligations to donors to open prizes to both men and women. Where this is not possible and where a prize must remain single-sex for reasons beyond the University's control, the University should make strong efforts to solicit donations for a second prize.

This is not to say that all prizes must be stripped of their original character. Since it will be awarded by the Institute, the Fay Prize could reflect the Institute's mission to contribute to the study of women, gender and society by honoring an undergraduate, male or female, who has shown superior scholarship in this area. University administrators have already hinted that the criteria for the prize may come to emphasize scholarship over the additional elements of conduct and character.

The distribution of prizes is one of the most emotional aspects of Harvard undergraduate life, for better or for worse. The University should work to ensure that these prizes will not continue to be unevenly distributed along gender lines.

Dissent

Fay Should Reflect Radcliffe's Past

Why is it that charges of reverse discrimination seem to have so much instant credibility? The Crimson staff falls victim to the mentality that anything that appears to give women an extra advantage must be sexist. However, as the staff admits, there is a dramatic imbalance between prizes open to men and women. The amount of inequality embodied in the Fay Prize simply doesn't measure up to the multitude of male-only prizes.

There is also the fact that the Fay Prize, more than any of the Radcliffe prizes which have been given over to the College, is representative of Radcliffe's past. The Fay Prize is a living reminder that Radcliffe was a women's college throughout most of its history. By continuing to award the Fay Prize to a female undergraduate, the Institute remains contact with its past through students of the present. Because of this tradition, as well as the fact that the prize will be awarded by an Institute with a mission for women--not by a co-ed College--there is a compelling reason to keep the Fay Prize as it is.

At the very least, this justification for the Fay Prize's single-sex status is no more tenuous than the justification for maintaining the Frothingham's prize criteria of "manliness." In fact, by targeting the Fay Prize before deciding to reconsider the Frothingham, the administration revealed an intent colored more by institutional rivalry than gender equality. The Crimson staff's intent, to eliminate sexism everywhere, is more noble, but in this case is clearly misguided.

--Meredith B. Osborn '02