The latest proposal sets forth policy which, for the first time, allows women to take maternity leave with pay. In the past, a woman leaving work to bear a child forfeited her pay. The new policy treats maternity leaves the same as leaves for illnesses, allowing the woman to collect her salary if her absence does not exceed the number of days allowed for sick leave.
The grievance procedure that was adopted last Fall was accepted by HEW at that time and has since become University policy.
The nepotism policy set forth in Harvard's most recent affirmative action report is essentially the same as the one the University has always followed. Under present policy, an individual cannot work in a department under another member of his family except with permission from the "appropriate dean or vice president."
The University has also begun giving part-time appointments with tenure as part of its plan to increase the numbers of women and minority group members in the faculties.
But "while there has been an increase over the past three years in the number of minority and women professors at Harvard, the numbers still remain small," the report to HEW said. The affirmative action document also noted that the numbers of women and minority group members represented on the higher rungs of the academic and administrative ladders are relatively small.
Two of the most controversial elements of the affirmative action plans required by law are utilization analysis and the enumeration of target goals and timetables.
The government requires the employer to find and examine its own possible hiring biases, and subsequently to complete a "utilization analysis" by "organizational unit" of faculty and administrative jobs.
Each affirmative action plan must therefore include statistics on women and minority group members in all faculties and job categories, and on the available labor pool in order to locate areas of apparent "underrepresentation."
The proposals must then outline goals and timetables for the next two years regarding the additional hiring of women and minority group members. Institutions are bound to revise these and resubmit their new goals to HEW biannually.
In its affirmative action proposal, the University stated that it would concentrate on junior faculty positions since "in this way, faculties can develop a group of proven ability to be promoted from within to more senior positions."
But the goals as outlined actually project a decrease of four women assistant professors for next year, despite an overall increase of 31 such positions and although 109 such posts will become available between now and 1975.
In the administrative ranks, the University boasts five women deans out of a total of 17 in the University. All of the five, however, are affiliated with the Radcliffe structure.
In general, the utilization analysis presented by Harvard showed that although women and minority group members have made some gains in faculty and administrative areas, the vast majority of such Harvard employees remain salary-and-wage workers--technicians, office and kitchen workers--with few holding Corporation appointments as faculty members or administrators.
Women, for instance, hold less than 10 per cent of the academic posts but make up close to 90 per cent of the clerical staff.
Harvard's affirmative action proposal is not available to the public at large or to interested groups within the University, except in an abridged edition.
The law does not require that the entire document or any of its parts be made public until it has been accepted by HEW and becomes binding policy for the institution.
The University has a month left to modify and resubmit the plan recently rejected by HEW. Although in reality, institutions apparently have indefinite amounts of time to fulfill Federal requirements, Leonard "would like to put this whole matter to rest," as would many of the women's groups which have long protested alleged delinquency on the part of the Administration in coming to terms with its obligation to establish a viable affirmative action program.