It happened at a ten dance. He said, "Why did you come to Radcliffe?" She replied, "Because I've always wanted to go to a co-educational college."

Now everyone knows that Radcliffe isn't really co-educational. This regrettably mistaken young lady, like so many people fresh to the Cambridge scene, was fooled by an amorphous concept called Joint Instruction.

Seven years' application of the Joint Instruction program have made confusion with co-education possible. What started out as an academic economy device for a women's college grew like a cancer--insidiously, effectively. More courses became available to women, Widener turned into a date exchange, barriers at the grad schools began to fall, and to the horror of a substantial number of students, administrative officers, and alumni, women moved into Harvard extra-curricular clubs.

Now, all of a sudden, the female advance seems to have stopped. Both men and women appear to feel that further union would mean profanation of their scholarly souls; they apparently are satisfied with the present relationship.

Joint Instruction, it must be understood, allegedly refers exclusively to matters of educational policy. This was especially evident in the spring months of last year when at least three Harvard and Radcliffe groups started to discuss rules for admitting Radcliffe girls to Harvard groups.

College policy had been that Harvard clubs must have 100 percent Harvard membership. When the Dean's office received a petition from an embryonic Biology club which requested a part Radcliffe membership, the old policy was shaken from its shelf.

Reserved Yes

The Harvard Student Council favored allowing joint clubs with certain reservations. These reservations stated that if the Harvard club had a Radcliffe counterpart, girls could not move over the Cambridge Common. It further stated that a majority of members and officers must be men.

This program, approved by the Radcliffe Council, was rejected by the Dean's office, which countered with a slightly revised proposal of its own: clubs must be departmental (like the Biology club) or for a social interest (like a drama club). Furthermore, in each case, there must be specific approval by Harvard and Radcliffe.

This set of rules went back to the Student Council. The Council returned its first set of rules and the matter was never brought up again.

According to Radcliffe's Dean Sherman, "There simply did not seem to be a pressing need or widespread popular demand at either Harvard or Radcliffe for drastic revision . . . It seems hardly worthwhile to enter into highly complicated rules and regulations which joint organizations would entail."

The emphasis on "departmental" reflected the traditional approach, "If it's strictly educational, we'll do it together." And everyone seemed to agree. Gordon J. Poole '47 2L, president of the H.Y.R.C., has said that his organization could work much more "efficiently and effectively" if it was divided into two monosexual groups. He was echoed by John T. White '52, a member of the H.L.U. executive board, who believes in close cooperation, "but not close enough to unite."

On the other hand, the Biology club held its first meeting of the new year on Wednesday night and women members were present with voting privileges.

Despite this, Radcliffe isn't really co-educational. It's Joint Instruction. To understand Joint Instruction, one must go back, back to a day in 1878 when President Eliot walked into his office and found a letter lying on his desk. "Dear Sir," it said. "I am engaged in perfecting a plan which shall afford women opportunities for carrying their studies forward further than it is possible for them to do in this country (except possibly at Smith) . . ." The letter was signed by one Arthur Gilman, a Cambridge historian.

Eliot wrote Gilman that he could use several Harvard faculty members. Gilman approached selected instructors. He received 53 replies--44 of them were acceptances, and Arthur Gilman was off on the greatest experiment of his life, "The Society for Collegiate Instruction of Women."