We applaud our peers at Harvard and at more than 70 other colleges and universities who rallied on the Day of Action to preserve affirmative action. Further, we urge Rudenstine to continue to use (and use further) his bully pulpit, explaining the defense for affirmative action in a way that only a well-respected member of the academy can.   April 16, 1998

SO LONG, FAREWELL

Negotiations are reported to be underway to redefine Radcliffe as an "allied institution" of Harvard University and remove its "college" title. Such a redefinition is both necessary and long overdue--Radcliffe is many things, but it is not an undergraduate educational facility. To make it an allied institution of Harvard would be beneficial to both undergraduates and Radcliffe itself.

First, removing the "college" tagline from Radcliffe's name would put an end to the schizophrenic system of admitting female undergraduates to both Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and having Radcliffe collect tuition dollars which are immediately transferred to Harvard.... Undergraduates deserve a clearly-defined identity as students of Harvard College, and Radcliffe deserves to be more than just a vestigial gateway for female students.

As the situation stands, Radcliffe is constrained by its misleading appellation as a college. It does not employ a full-time faculty; it does not offer courses for credit to undergraduates. By calling itself what it is--a research and support institution allied with Harvard University--Radcliffe can devote all its energy to its continued excellence as a center for women's studies and history. A change in focus would be an acknowledgment of all Radcliffe has achieved for women at Harvard.   April 20, 1998

SMUGNESS AT THE TOP

Once again, just as it has prevented rain from falling on Commencement Day for the last 346 years, Harvard has defied gravity. When Princeton, Yale, Stanford, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania announced their decisions to offer more generous financial aid packages earlier this year, any Harvard-trained economist might have expected that a price war would drive down the costs of a Harvard education too.

But such economists would be forgetting Harvard's little pact with God. Instead of pledging to increase financial aid this year, Harvard pledged close to nothing (our offers would remain within "shouting distance" of those of other schools, promised President Neil L. Rudenstine). And now the results are in. Not only did the College's higher prices fail to deter students from enrolling; the percentage of admitted students choosing to matriculate actually increased....

The College's failure to commit to leading rather than following on the crucial matter of financial aid embodies every negative stereotype that those outside of Harvard associate with our fair University. It is arrogant, selfish and snide. The University coddles its funds, running capital campaigns to build extra squash courts while throwing its students (even the squash players) into ungodly debt.

Rudenstine may be leading the fight to preserve affirmative action in higher education, but when it comes to affordability our president is awfully silent.   May 20, 1998