Jumping into the fray surrounding the issue of women and minorities in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), a group of seniors unveiled the Alternative Senior Gift Fund (ASGF) on Mar. 10.

At the Fund's inception, Megan L. Peimer '97, spokesperson for the Alternative Senior Gift Coalition, said that the ASGF would provide a substitute for the traditional Senior Gift Fund for students dissatisfied with University policies on a variety of issues, but would focus on the tenuring of women and minority Faculty members.

The Coalition--a group which includes graduating seniors as well as other undergraduates and faculty advisors--set up the ASGF as an escrow fund, which will be withheld until there is "proof Harvard is making a good faith effort to address these issues," according to Peimer.

"[There was] a pretty consistent dismay with the lack of options with the Senior Gift," Peimer said. "We were not comfortable with giving to Harvard as it stands now but did not want to be ungenerous."

Why Women and Minorities?

ASGF organizers said they considered a variety of issues as protest points--including randomization, section size and ethnic studies--but picked women and minority tenuring because of its visibility and practicality.

The tenure issue had an added advantage because Peimer and others were already in contact with the CEWH which had a fundraising structure in place.

"There was a lot of debate--not because anyone disagreed with this issue, but because there are so many issues on which we've been disappointed with Harvard," Peimer said.

Aligning themselves with the Committee for the Equality of Women at Harvard (CEWH), the Coalition arranged for its funds to be added to the CEWH's existing trust, the Harvard Women Faculty Fund.

The CEWH fund currently holds $500,000.

The terms under which the money raised by the ASGF will be turned over to the University do not include quotas for hiring but rather require that an advisory body--composed of anonymous faculty and administrators--convince the larger CEWH that the FAS is actively pursuing a plan for change, organizers said.

The fate of the ASGF is ultimately linked to the CEWH fund, which will be donated to the University once the Committee is convinced that Harvard "has leveled the playing field in terms of hiring for women," said Chair Peggy B. Schmertzler '53.

Scott L. Shuchart, another organizer of the Coalition, said the group was amenable to including minority hiring, although CEWH efforts are primarily aimed at increasing the number of female professors at the University.

Members of the Coalition said wide-spread acceptance of the tenure issue as a problem was a contributing factor to its selection for the ASGF.

"[The issue] is incredibly blatant. The numbers speak for themselves," said ASGF treasurer Ezra W. Reese '97. "[We] wanted the issue to have broad appeal, to be one in which the University was uncontroversially wrong."