RUS President Deborah J. Wexler '95 says WAC has drawn a completely different group of women than RUS normally attracts.

"They are doing something RUS never could have done because they started with a whole different population... A lot of the people who go to RUS already don't attend clubs," she says.

The group has been successful, in part, because its leaders are women who have high visiblity on campus. Walton is captain of the field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse teams.

"Francie's position as an athletic leader enhanced her ability to deal with a lot of women, and she had a broad base of support to draw from," Colligan said.

As WAC has battled its stereotype as a bunch of athletes who want to join clubs, it has tried to attract a wide range of members. Nevertheless, the group's success stemmed in part from the large base of support which Walton was able to draw from during the hockey team's pre-season in early September.

Wexler also says she understands why WAC chose to operate outside RUS. "If I were them I would not have gone through RUS," she says. "Not because of the way we are now but because of the way we've been historically," she said, referring to RUS's more radical activism against the clubs in the '80s, which differs from the "friendly" approach taken now by WAC.

"It would be great if we could also get those 200 women to also work with RUS. We're trying to erase a lot of past alienation," Wexler says.

Bovet has watched RUS' character and stance change during the years she has been at the College, and says that RUS has effected important change.

"[RUS] has gone through cycles in the 13 years I have been here from being confrontational to being very collaborative," Bovet says.

For administrators, RUS still seems to represent a significant voice for women on campus. Bovet cites RUS' role in helping to start the Committee on Women's Studies and the group's work on the College's polcy on sexual harrassment and date rape as examples of the way RUS has recently dealt with "some extremely important major issues on campus very effectively."

MacKay-Smith says that the College consults with RUS on all matters which relate to women on campus. "It's not considered done until we've consulted with RUS."

Minna Jarvenpaa '93 told The Crimson last year that it was difficult for RUS to take a controversial stand on the final club issue because such a stand would not be representative of all women on campus.

"It was difficult for us to claim that we were representative of all the women on campus," Jarvenpaa said last year. "That made RUS more political in a lot of ways and not necessarily representative in the way that we are now."

This dilemma has troubled RUS leaders ever since: Does an effort towards broadening its membership inhibit the group from being able to take stances on controversial issues? Will RUS, in its effort to represent all, pursue an agenda so broad that it doesn't represent anyone at all?

"I think we try to be as representative as possible," says RUS Co-President Maura H. Swan '94. "But we can only be as representative as who comes to the meetings"