Although Wilson last spring created an LCR Task Force that included students, it has barely met. No decisions relevant to the room have been debated in Task Force meetings. The room was designed, decorated, budgeted and staffed without any student input.

Wilson has the final say on everything that happens in the room--from what hangs on the walls, to what groups use it and when, to who works there. She can call at a moment's notice and announce that she intends to use the room for a reception or some other event--a privilege no other member of the Harvard-Radcliffe community can claim.

And when students ask for increased involvement in the LCR, the Radcliffe administration responds that all student groups should feel absolutely free to use the room whenever they like. The issue of student input in actual decision making is side-stepped completely.

But if the Radcliffe deans are going to call the LCR the Center for Women and view it as the first step towards a women's center they are going to have to relinquish a little control. Students will not get actively involved in a "space" if it is only an administratively-controlled space.

The Radcliffe administration's stated intention of running gender-related programs through the LCR will fall flat if students don't feel any investment in the projects. Without some significant role in shaping those programs, they are unlikely to feel that investment.

IF THE Radcliffe administrators continue their patronising attitude, students will never get really involved in the LCR, and it will remain nothing more than just another space at Harvard.

And if students continue to demand nothing less than the immediate development of a student-controlled multi-room facility in Harvard Square, they will be met with continued--and maybe not unreasonable--resistance.

But if Radcliffe's administration will meet the students halfway, the LCR could begin to fill--perhaps completely fill--many of the functions of the proposed Women's Center and could begin to make a real difference for women's lives at Harvard.

Melissa R. Hart '91 works in the Lyman Common Room.