Even though their activist days of rallying and petitioning may be waning, new and old undergraduate women's groups are still enjoying healthy memberships.

The health of both the groups and their ranks may come as much from their new, more low-key approaches to feminist issues as from increased student interest stemming from last year's high profile challenges.

Last spring the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) shot down a request from male undergraduates for full voting rights in the women's group.

And Women Appealing for Change (WAC) unsuccessfully battled for Final Club inclusion throughout last year.

The last hope for WAC--The Fly Club--recently decided not to admit women. This means WAC's potential impact is seriously diminished, along with student interest as momentum slows from last year's initial push.

"With this decision it's going to take a lot longer than we had hoped, but it has made us more inspired to convince other women to stay away from the finals clubs or make them go coed," said Rebecca H. Ewing '95, a co-president of WAC. "It made us angry enough to keep working."

"The first year you get a bunch of motivated people and the second year you go down for a few years until you get both the tradition and motivation," Ewing said.

Sarah Winters '95, another co-president, said many women aren't committed enough to boycott the clubs again.

New Women's Group

Students for Equality Feminism, a women's issues discussion group, was founded last spring in response to radical feminists who believe women are continually oppressed by men, said co-founder Rebecca Boggs '95.

"People don't want to be told that there's only one authentic or feminist way of looking at things," Boggs said as she emphasized that her group considers men and women as individuals before members of a gender.

Boggs said 30 people came to Equality Feminism's introductory meeting in September, while 15 attended their latest dinner-discussion on pornography and women's rights Tuesday.

Boggs said the feminist climate on campus is not as protest-oriented as in the past. It usually takes an event like the Clarence Thomas hearings or the final clubs debacle to galvanize women, she says.

"It's very exciting to be vocal and active and outraged, but outrage isn't always the best catalyst to find helpful solutions," Boggs said. "[Right now] the important thing is to discuss issues and...have people consider what they believe."

Established Groups