Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Col.) took time out from her Washington duties this week for a sojourn in Cambridge. The legislator, who briefly considered making a run for the presidency in the last election, participated in an Institute of Politics (IOP) forum on child care and the family on Thursday. This weekend she will speak at a Law School conference on family law.

Schroeder's Harvard ties extend deeper than an academic weekend, though. A 1964 graduate of the Law School, Schroeder is a close friend of Judith Richards Hope, who was named two weeks ago to a spot on the Harvard Corporation, the University's seven-member governing body.

Hope, the first woman ever to serve on the Corporation, is a Washington lawyer who has maintained close ties to Schroeder and Secretary of Labor Elizabeth H. Dole since the days when they were three of the 20 or so women at the Law School.

When interviewed after her appearance at the IOP, Schroeder said she was ecstatic to learn of Hope's appointment to the Corporation. "If Harvard has finally become this progressive, maybe there is hope for America," Schroeder said.

Schroeder did add one caveat, however, saying that "I hope we don't have to wait 400 years for another [woman on the Corporation]."

The Colorado representative said she and Hope have maintained a close friendship, but refused to reminisce about their Law School days together. "I see a lot of her in Washington. She's a very good friend," was all that Schroeder would say.

And when it came to Hope's potential impact on the previously all-male governing board, Schroeder was equally cryptic. When asked whether Hope's Republican ties mean that she will not prove the progressive force that activists had hoped, Schroeder responded, "I expect Harvard will ease into it."