The College's Celebration of Women at Harvard, a commemoration of the 25-year anniversary of women living in the Yard, promises to be quite a party. But for some associates of Radcliffe, it's like serving the cake without the ice cream.

"The experience of women at Harvard is via Radcliffe," says Martha E. Hackett '83, an active alumna. "You can't talk about [the history of women's experiences at Harvard] without including Radcliffe."

Radcliffe administrators were not called on to help organize the event. While President Rudenstine will participate in a gate dedication, Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson will not, although she will speak on one of the panels.

And members of Radcliffe's alumnae association were not mailed personal invitations.

Karen E. Avery '87, assistant dean of the College, who said the event "doesn't really have much to do with Radcliffe."

Avery and Harry R. Lewis '68, dean of the College, said that many alumnae have voiced praised for the event, which commemorates the strides made for women at Harvard in the last 25 years.

Willow D. Crystal '97-'98, co-chair of the Women's Leadership Project, also said it is fine that this particular event does not commemorate Radcliffe.

"I'm very excited that Harvard has, in the past year especially, made such enormous strides in focusing collective administrative energy on the experience of women as undergraduates and as alumnae," she said. "To the extent that [this] is a celebration of that effort, I think it's fantastic."

Although the river houses and Radcliffe had become co-educational in 1970, women did not begin living in the Yard until two years later.

While Lewis says that change has "big symbolic significance," Jane E. Tewksbury '74, president of the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association recalled that as a junior in the autumn of 1972, she hardly noticed the change because men and women were already sharing all of the other houses.

Allowing women to live in the "hallowed Yard," she said, was "just the completion of a process" that began in 1970, when the quota on admitting women to the College was lifted.

Like Hackett, Kavita Kacholia '98, co-president of Radcliffe Union of Students, said Radcliffe should be included in any celebration of women at Harvard.

"There's something very necessary about including Radcliffe in a lot of these celebrations," she said. "Every female student is a part of [Harvard and Radcliffe], so I think both schools have something to offer in the celebration of 25 years."

Tamar March, dean of educational programs and director of Radcliffe Undergraduate Programs, said she was initially pleased when Lewis told her about the event, but gradually came to question the fact that Radcliffe had not been asked to co-sponsor it.

"In speaking with President Wilson, I realized that without Radcliffe, there could be no celebration," she said.

Still, March said that issue should not detract from the shared goal of the two institutions: to continue to improve the opportunities for undergraduate women.

"In the end, I think the focus should be on the celebration and on the students, rather than on who was and was not asked to be co-sponsoring the event," she says