Repulsing Radcliffe

Last October's merger between Harvard and Radcliffe severed any formal ties Radcliffe once had to undergraduate students. But the new Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study still maintains a presence in undergraduate life in several important ways. The College's decision to deny Radcliffe tabling space at last week's activities fairs suggests a fundamentally short-sighted, and perhaps even mean-spirited, attitude toward its sister institution.

It is true that Radcliffe's request for table space to advertise its phone-a-thon and job opportunities might have been inappropriate for the activities fairs. Instead, the Institute should have tried to use the fairs as a way to promote academic or extracurricular opportunities available to undergraduates. For example, the Institute conducts a mentorship program each year that pairs students at the College with professionals in various career fields in the Cambridge and Boston areas. This year Radcliffe will host 56 fellows, who will serve as advisors and speakers in the Institute's weekly lecture series. Radcliffe has allowed undergraduates to use their theater space when other institutions have closed the curtains on College productions. The Institute also sponsors research partnerships and externships during spring break.

At the same time, giving Radcliffe table space at the activities fairs would have cost the College very little--it's not like there's any shortage of folding tables. On the flip side, space at the fairs would have gone a long way to inform an interested undergraduate population about Radcliffe's numerous programs. Even if the College believed that other advertising outlets existed, the desire to maintain friendly relations between the two institutions should have been more than adequate reason to grant Radcliffe a table.

Undergraduate students should still be able to access Radcliffe resources regardless of the October merger, and Radcliffe should still have access to students. In this case, it was a matter of a folding table. In other, more significant situations, the College should be willing to work with and to support the Institute and the continuing role it plays in undergraduate life.