"Thank you for allowing a Yalie thisprivilege," she said, laughing.

Since graduating from Yale Foster has won andOscar for Best Actress for her 1988 portrayal ofthe raped cocktail waitress in The Accused.In 1976, she was nominated for an Oscar for herdepiction of a child prostitute in TaxiDriver.

She is currently being considered for an Oscarfor Silence of the Lambs, in which sheplayed a federal investigator who enlists the aidof Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter to track down aserial murderer.

St. Clair and Claflin refrained from culinaryjokes but could not stop themselves from givingfashion tips. Staging a "this is Your Life"segment, Claflin and St. Clair ushered in a figurefrom Foster's past.

'Waiting Offstage'

"The one person in the world you'd like toshare your woman of the Year experience with iswaiting offstage," said Claflin.

Foster looked perplexed and squinted into thewings. "She's your height, has your hair color,and your eyes," St. Clair hinted.

"It's not Michelle Pfieffer, is it?" askedFoster.

"No!" said St. Clair triumphantly, as Claflinwheeled in a dressmaker's dummy sporting apink-purple polyester suit and a floppy white hatof Taxi Driver vintage. "From 1975, it'sMiss Jodie Foster," he said.

Foster, an amateur kickboxer, obliginglypummeled her past self after requests from St.Clair and Calflin.

During a press conference held after the awardceremony, Foster spoke more seriously about heridentity as a young female actor.

"I think if there's one thing I'm role modelishabout it's that I'm human," she said. "I makemistakes, I'm kind of like everyone else."

Strong Women's Roles

Speaking crisply and assertively Foster saidthat she is trying to use her current standing inthe movie industry to promote "honest" screenplaysand strong roles for women.

"Feminism," she said, "is the best form ofhumanism that I know of."

The award ceremony followed a parade featuringthe Harvard Band, the Harvard Cheerleaders and acaravan of waving students.

Hasty Pudding actors, garbed in fetchingdresses, escorted Foster in an aged LincolnContinental convertible past the watching crowd