In other instances, Walzer says she feels that the OWE should not assume direct responsibility for projects--a course on human sexuality, for example--but should simply facilitate the work of people who are interested in starting them. As it is, a large part of the office's objects are done in conjunction with such diverse agencies as the academic departments, the University Health Services, the OGCP, the Radcliffe Institute and the Committee on Undergraduate Education.
Arthurs, who says she is pleased with the OWE's progress this year, says that the administrative details the office faces on particular projects are usually solvable. But while the community's reception to the new Radcliffe office has been cooperative and even enthusiastic, Arthurs says, the broader issue of Harvard's commitment to women undergraduates is still in abeyance. She describes the current stage in the Harvard-Radcliffe relationship as an "educational phase," with an "achievement phase" yet to come.
"Things are very different for women at Harvard now than a couple of years ago," Arthurs says. "People basically are more sensitive and sympathetic to the concerns of women, but the institution itself has not changed. The process of incorporating the women who have been inherited and those who are to come is still difficult. Commitment to women is still something we have to press about."
Yet despite the fact that, as Walzer puts it, "people generally understand what you mean when you say that Harvard is a male institution," the underlying assumption at the OWE is that its chief purpose is to disappear eventually. "It serves to give strength, unity and focus to the minority group of women in this community," Arthurs says. "Once women are, feel like less of a minority, there will be less of a need for it."
In the meantime, Arthurs sees the OWE as fulfilling in a different way Radcliffe's time-honored function for women at Harvard: "Radcliffe's traditional role has been to provide women with a place at Harvard. That is still its role, but today it means more than giving women dorm space or access to classrooms."
As an embodiment of Radcliffe, the Office of Women's Education could be the only part of Radcliffe College that would survive merger. No one, however, has a timetable either for merger or for the OWE's demise. "One of the ironies is that as Radcliffe becomes more vigorous, forcing it to disappear is more of a problem," Arthurs said last week.
And the new Office of Women's Education appears to be one of the things that could make Radcliffe more vigorous.