Battling what they describe as a "little-sister" mentality toward Radcliffe, an ad hoc committee of Radcliffe alumnae has stepped forward to register its opposition to gender barriers at the University and lobby for increased hiring of women faculty and administrators.

Citing recent protests at both the College and the Law School in support of stepped-up minority and women faculty hiring efforts, the group of 40 women--mostly members of Radcliffe's Class of '53--say that the moment is ripe for change in the school's relationship with the University.

"I think we've arrived at a point in time when people are starting to voice their feelings," said Linda W. Newdick of the ad hoc committee on the status of women at Harvard-Radcliffe, which first met two years ago at a 35th reunion of the Class of 1953 and has recently expanded to include other Radcliffe affiliates.

In order to boost the number of tenured women faculty at Harvard, committee members said they plan to run a candidate for the 30-member Board of Overseers, Harvard's chief governing board, on an affirmative action platform. Currently, only 71 of Harvard's 969 senior faculty members are women--a total of 7.3 percent, according to University figures.

Committee members said they also hope toreinstate a two-year fellowship program at theBunting Institute for non-tenured women facultymembers. In addition, they plan to host areception for Harvard's senior women professors tofind out how they made it.

"We need to attract allies--as many as possibleand as vocal as possible," says Newdick.

Cool Reception

The committee met with Radcliffe PresidentLinda S. Wilson on February 27 to tell her abouttheir work and seek her support. But severalcommittee members said that Wilson was cool towardthe group's presentation and remains reluctant tooffer them support.

"We were not given encouragement to proceed atthat time," said Anne S. Wilson '53, a formerassociate director of Radcliffe admissions. "Wemay get it later."

"When we came away, it was our consensus thatit would be the next order of business to seek outa mandate," said Acey Welch '53.

In a statement released this week, PresidentWilson says she agrees with the committee'soverall objective to ensure that Harvard studentshave the opportunity to work with distinguishedwomen scholars.

"I promised my effort and thought on the matterand encouraged them to be creative in theirefforts," Wilson said.

Initially, the committee set out to assess thestatus of women at the College and to verifywhether their perceptions of disparate treatmentwere accurate, says Peggy B. Schmertzler '53.

"That was done, and the evidence was prettyoverwhelming that there was discrimination," saysNewdick, citing the percentage of tenured womenfaculty and the Radcliffe Union of Students surveyreport in which 67 percent of upperclass womenstudents reported experiencing sexism in theclassroom.

Now that the problems have been identified,committee members have sharply criticizedHarvard's efforts to address their concerns.