"I do not know what the goals of the committee are, what the criteria is for being on the committee, who actually is on the committee, and what means is there of public accountability," says Rabia S. Belt '01, a member of several women's groups on campus, in an e-mail message. "Since the process is so secretive, it makes me worried that the committee will not be as effective as it could be."

Even students and faculty members who have already been chosen for the committee are uncertain about what their positions will entail.

"I hope to gain a better perspective about what the Trust is about," says Mark D. Palmenter '00, who has been chosen for the committee.

Palmenter has no affiliation with campus women's groups.

And Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics Howard Georgi '68, a committee member who is also Master of Leverett House, says, "I don't know what the particulars are of the committee, so I can't say much."

Some students say they have been chosen solely as representatives of their student groups.

Peggy T. Lim '01, co-chair of the Women's Leadership Project (WLP), was asked by Avery via an e-mail message to be part of the committee.

Lim says she told Avery that her co-chair, Stacy D. Truta '01, would also like to serve on the committee. Avery told her Truta could fill in for Lim if she was absent from a meeting, Lim says.

In choosing committee members, Avery says she "started out trying to get representation from women-oriented groups."

Although the committee will be charting unknown waters as it prepares to allocate the Trust's funds, Lewis says the group is actually the successor body of the Harvard College Women's Initiative. That initiative took shape from an informal group of undergraduates Lewis assembled called the "Women's Working Group."

"Though [the group] didn't have a formal agenda, I learned a lot from talking to [them] about where women's experiences here differed from men's," Lewis says.

Avery says she has not chosen all the members of the committee yet. Students already named include: Maryanthe E. Milliaris '01, who served on the Women's Working Group; Meredith B. Osborn '02, a former WLP board member who is also a Crimson editor; Katharine D. Clancy '01, co-chair of RUS; Lim and Palmenter.

Faculty members include Georgi, Lewis, Director of the Parents Association Julia G. Fox and Associate Dean of the Faculty Laura Gordon Fisher.

Avery says she hopes to complete the selection process by the end of January so the Trust can begin operating.

"We want to help student groups and help departments plan events. We want the students to know what the Trust is," Avery says. "I want it to be a household name."