Some say the amount of attention Harvard has showered on its female students this year is in some ways unprecedented.

Janet A. Viggiani, who served as the College's assistant dean of co-education from 1988 to 1993--the same position that Avery now fills--says Harvard never focused the same "kind of publicity and variety of programming on women."

"[Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57] cared enormously about those things that mattered to students--that included women's issues," Viggiani says. "He may not have produced a glossy magazine, but he addressed their interests."

Sibling Rivalry

Jewett was at the head of Viggiani's chain of command during her tenure in University Hall, but she is quick to add that her job required her to work closely with Philippa Bovet, now the dean emerita of Radcliffe College.

"Part of the reason why I got the job was because I had a connection to Radcliffe," says the former Adams House senior tutor, who worked in Radcliffe's office of career services before moving to Harvard.

"They wanted someone who cared about women at the College," Viggiani adds.

Viggiani's willingness to work with Radcliffe in addressing women's needs on campus differs markedly from Avery's, who says the 1977 agreement between the two schools gave Harvard sole responsibility over its female undergraduates.

"Radcliffe hasn't been providing women with an education for several years," Avery says. "It's role has diminished at the same time that Harvard has woken up to the realization that there are women in its environment, and that it should provide an inclusive environment."

In the effort to provide such an environment, Harvard has attracted the dollars of those donors who would like to help the College achieve a level of commitment toward its undergraduates they never saw in their years in Cambridge.

The alumni behind the Houghton endowment, Maisie K. Houghton '62 and James R. Houghton '58, made their gift to Harvard last April so that the College could "catch up" with the progress Radcliffe had made over the years for women.

Both James Houghton, who is a member of the Harvard Corporation and who currently chairs Corning, Inc., and Maisie Houghton say their ideas concerning the enhancement of undergraduate life were influenced by the women's movement of the 1960s. Maisie Houghton has long been involved in women's issues; she established a women's center in Corning, N.Y., and organized workshops in New York City on women and money.

"We owe a great deal to Radcliffe, and I have the greatest respect for them," Maisie Houghton says. "But Harvard was the one that needed beefing up."

Houghton says she and her husband simply wanted to enhance the undergraduate experience, without making a distinction between the two colleges.

"Radcliffe has not failed in its mission," she says. "I just think we need more of a good thing."