Women's Guide Ready for Class of 2005

While most Harvard students are used to flipping through the Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard, the finishing touches are being put on a new type of handbook to help students navigate the ins and outs of the University.

The Women's Guide to Harvard, a 150-page book about women at Harvard, is in the final stages of being designed.

Though the book will be printed in time to distribute to the Class of 2005, it is almost a year behind schedule.

Former Undergraduate Council Vice-President Kamil E. Redmond '00 started planning the guide in the spring of 1999 in response to what she said was the weak voice of women on campus.

The book-funded in part by the Ann Radcliffe Trust and the Women's Leadership Project (WLP)-was supposed to be ready to distribute to the Class of 2004.

Karen E. Avery '87, assistant dean of the College and director of the Trust, says she is surprised at the delay in the guide's completion.

"I thought it'd be out last May," Avery says. "I haven't seen much of the guide lately."

Redmond says she gave up control over the original production schedule when she graduated.

Jenny E. Heller '01, managing editor of the guide and a former Crimson executive, says that the format of the guide was revamped after last spring, resulting in a later publication date.

"Those were our original due dates because we thought we were making a guide," Heller says. "But those changed when we wanted to make it more journalistic."

Heller adds that the editors of the guide, realizing their first experience creating a book might hold some surprises, did not set rigid deadlines to accommodate their inexperience.

"This is a really big job and there were too many cooks," Avery says. "At one point, Peggy [T. Lim '01, the key organizer of the guide] realized they needed to refocus and reorganize."

Heller says the bulk of the guide's $10,000 budget has come from advertisements, though the Trust and WLP will also be kicking in funds.

The Trust was an early supporter of the guide, and the book's organizers were able to receive funding without having to formally apply to the Trust for funding.

Avery says the Trust has not given the guide any funds as of yet, but will write a check once the book is printed.

The guide includes the history of Radcliffe and women at Harvard, as well as academic, extracurricular and social experiences of women. It also examines issues like women's rate of tenure at the University, Heller says.

"While the book is content-heavy and meant to be read more as a newspaper or a magazine than a guide, we still do want it to be a guide in the sense that it has things that maybe aren't in the Unofficial Guide or are found in different places," Heller adds.

Redmond says she feels that Radcliffe's merger with Harvard, the rate of sexual assault on campus and the lack of tenured female Faculty members demonstrate the unequal position of women at Harvard.

"Women's voices and women's concerns just weren't being heard on the Harvard campus," Redmond says.

She teamed up with Lim, then co-chair of the WLP, to start work on the guide. The pair approached various women's groups on campus in an effort to raise funds.

Many female undergraduates say they are looking forward to seeing the guide in print.

"I want to see what they've learned about the experience of women at Harvard," says Lisa Vogt '01-'02, president of the Radcliffe Union of Students. (RUS).

Vogt says that the guide's potential to reward specific courses or concentrations for their positive attitude about women and the study of women is particularly exciting.

Alison E. Fisher '02, president of the Seneca, says she hopes the guide makes good on its potential to be a resource for students.

"I hope that it gives students a better idea of women's history here, that I think often goes unnoticed," Fisher says. "Hopefully it'll highlight all of the women's organizations on campus that often are overlooked."

Bradley J. Olson '03, manager of Unofficial Publications, which publishes the Unofficial Guide, says his organization looks forward to seeing a new publication on campus.

"We welcome the addition of the Women's Guide to Harvard and hope it serves as a valuable resource for women in the Harvard community," Olson writes in an e-mail.

After Heller and Lim graduate in June, the remaining staff of more than 60 will decide whether to continue publishing new editions of the guide.

Ultimately, Heller says she hopes the guide raises awareness about women's issues at Harvard.

"It's a resource for both men and women to use," she says. "We talked to a huge number of people-professors, students, alums, leaders of extracurricular groups, we spent hours going through old articles and hunting things down in Schlesinger Library...It's a year of research and work that I hope people read."

Lim says the guide will be mailed to members of the Class of 2005. Upperclass students will receive one copy per suite.

-Staff writer Juliet J. Chung can be reached at jchung@fas.harvard.edu.