To some it is a simple piece of paper with a seal and a few signatures. To others it is a tangible symbol, the culmination of four years of coursework, signifying an eternal connection to the institution of higher learning.

It is a college diploma, and this year the future look of Harvard's has elicited a debate that has triggered one of the few public outpourings of student opinion concerning the status of Radcliffe College.

From heated arguments on the Undergraduate Council e-mail list to a banner-waving, slogan-chanting demonstration on the steps of University Hall, debate concerning the difference in appearance between men's and women's diplomas at the College demonstrates that student opinion is all but clear on the issue.

The Debate

This Commencement Day more than 1,600 men and women will be handed diplomas signifying graduation from the College. Men currently receive a document stamped with the Harvard seal and signed by President Neil L. Rudenstine and Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68.

Women's diplomas, on the other hand, are stamped with both Harvard and Radcliffe seals. Since women at the College are officially admitted to and graduate from Radcliffe College, Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson's signature appears in the place of Lewis'.

On Feb. 22, Rachel E. Barber '99 introduced a bill to the Undergraduate Council recommending that men's and women's diplomas somehow become uniform.

"My whole life I grew up wanting to be a part of Harvard," Barber says. "When I was told that I would have the same college opportunity that my male classmates would, but I would get a different-looking diploma and I would have to graduate differently, it struck me. It made me feel that this dream I had had for my whole life I couldn't have because of my sex."

Barber's bill, co-sponsored by five other council members, quickly sparked heated debate regarding the immediate importance of Radcliffe College to undergraduate women.

"A lot of women feel that Radcliffe isn't a college and hasn't been, at least for the length of our lives," Barber says. "Radcliffe is not a women's college. It doesn't offer education; it isn't a degree-granting institution."

But those who opposed Barber's bill argue that Radcliffe is still very much a part of undergraduate women's lives.

"My sense is that the majority of women would want to be connected to that history and tradition that Radcliffe represents," says Emma C. Cheuse '98. Cheuse, who works for the Radcliffe College Fund, opposed the bill and helped organize an pro-Radcliffe rally April 21 that drew about 80 students.

"It connects us to women that we wouldn't be able to connect to otherwise," she says. "The over-arching connection that Radcliffe gives us over time is what should be represented on the diplomas."

In one of its most highly attended meetings of the year, the council passed Barber's bill with several amendments. The final version called for retaining the Radcliffe seal on women's diplomas but also maintained that Lewis' signature be added. Due to these amendments, the original sponsors withdrew their support before the bill passed.

"I think the bill as it was amended basically proposed a very cosmetic change," says Eric M. Nelson '99, an original sponsor and a Crimson editor. "It was a bill that asked for way too little. The danger with asking for way too little is that you'll get it."

Lewis declined to sign the bill.

"The revised bill would have had all the same implementation difficulties without addressing the basic question lying behind the original bill," he says.

According to Lewis, any changes to women's diplomas would require a renegotiation of the 1977 agreement in which Radcliffe ceded most of its responsibilities for undergraduate diplomas to Harvard.

The Student Voice

If students on both sides of the issue agree on anything, it is that the diploma debate brought to light current student opinion about Radcliffe.

"I think the debate showed that this was an issue that was very salient and very important to students," says Olivia Verma '99, an original sponsor of the bill. "Once it was in the Crimson headlines, the administration realized that their discussions, which had been very silent and tentative, were discussions that students wanted out loud and wanted to be a part of."

Students who opposed the bill say they are convinced that part of the bill's original purpose was to achieve a conclusive student consensus in favor of the removal of Radcliffe--a consensus which they say bill supporters failed to build.

"I think Dean Lewis thought he was going to have this great mandate from the student body that he could use to put additional pressure on fundraising from women alumnae and whatever kind of negotiations he's in to redefine Radcliffe," says Cheuse.

Lewis and bill supporters both vehemently deny that Lewis was involved in the bill's development.

"I think this is the first time I have been accused of seeking a student mandate on any issue," Lewis quips. "I responded to what a U.C. member brought to me, just as I have done with other proposed or enacted U.C. legislation."

"I think [Lewis has] been very unfairly portrayed. I think people have imputed motive to him that hasn't existed," Barber says. "He showed me some encouragement, but he shows a lot of people encouragement."

Still, bill opponents say the debate demonstrates that campus opinion favors Radcliffe. They say this was evident from the sheer numbers of Radcliffe supporters who came out of the woodwork to fight for maintaining the difference between men's and women's diplomas.

"In terms of the actual night of the voting, it showed that support for Radcliffe is a lot stronger then anyone would have believed in the first place," says Radcliffe Union of Students President Amanda Bagneris '99.

However, Barber claims the council vote failed to accurately represent student opinion.

"I'm less convinced that the U.C. is a representative body of the opinion on campus after this debate," she says. "It doesn't seem that the majority of people here think that women should be different from men officially at the College."

According to Barber, a small but vocal minority turned the council vote into a fight for the very existence of Radcliffe through the use of urgent e-mail messages and petitions sent to the council e-mail list.

"They were very successful in their outreach efforts. I have to give them credit, but they employed some propaganda methods that we weren't willing to use," she says.

The Feminist Perspective

As students decide whether they believe Radcliffe still deserves a place on women's diplomas, both sides of the debate attempt to characterize themselves as women's rights advocates.

"We had kind of naively thought that the issue would speak for itself," Barber says. "We thought that anyone who called themselves a feminist would have to say that women aren't getting equal treatment and that isn't right."

But for those who support continuing Radcliffe's seal and Wilson's signature on women's diplomas, the debate centers on recognizing the benefits they feel Radcliffe offers undergraduate women--benefits they believe Harvard has been unable to duplicate.

"Taking the Radcliffe seal and Linda Wilson's signature off my diploma is not going to change the fact that I didn't find the resources I needed at Harvard," Bagneris says. "What it does do is erase the history of Radcliffe."

"For me, that signature needs to be there, not only because I got my education from Radcliffe, but as a symbol of all that I didn't get at Harvard," she says.