Race-based admissions policies at universities from California to Texas currently face legal and public challenges. Gender-restrictive policies may very well be the next under fire.

And as the courts continue to interpret Title IX section of the Education Amendments of 1972, more and more single-sex educational programs are being ruledillegal.

Originally intended to open traditionallyall-male institutions to women, Title IX says thatgender-based discrimination is illegal ineducational programs or activities that receivefederal funding.

Title IX has been used in recent years to forceequal treatment of men's and women's athleticteams. It was also the law that put ShannonFaulkner into the Virginia Military Institute'straditionally all-male corps of cadets.

But according to Boston University Professor ofLaw Jane M. Cohen, an expert in Title IX law, theBunting Institute may not be safe from the law'sfar-reaching effects.

While Title IX contains an exemption fortraditionally all-women undergraduatecolleges--the law was never intended to challengeWellesley College or, for that matter,Radcliffe--courts have held that it is illegal forgraduate programs to discriminate on the basis ofgender.

Cohen explains that courts have ruled that ifeven one program at a given school receivesfederal money, all of that school's programs mustcomply with Title IX. That means that whenall-women undergraduate colleges also runsingle-sex graduate or post-graduate programs,they may then violate Title IX.

But Cohen, who herself read grant applicationsfor the Bunting Institute during the early 1990s,says much of Title IX law is open tointerpretation. With institutions like theBunting, technicalities can blur the meaning oflegal precedent.

For instance, some might argue that calling theBunting a post-graduate educational program is nottechnically accurate, since its fellows areactually paid to do research and not teach orattend classes.

Though Radcliffe has since changed its tune,Radcliffe College President Linda S. Wilson saidin December that the Bunting was not aneducational program, suggesting that Title IX didnot apply.

Conversely, Radcliffe now argues that seminarsand colloquia run by Bunting fellows are open toall, men and women alike.

However, according to Cohen, this in itselfinvites a legal interpretation which could bepotentially damning. Teaching both male and femaleundergraduates gives the Bunting an educationalcomponent and at the same time removes itsprotection under the Title IX exemption forall-women undergraduate college programs.

A formal ruling on the Bunting's compliancewith Title IX could come only if an aggrievedparty decided to actually file a complaint withthe federal government.

`The Bunting exists in an obviously ambiguousstatus in respect to Title IX," Cohen says. "Therecent trend now suggests that Title IX wouldapply--it seems to me that it should apply."

Radcliffe officials are quick to point out thatthe school's other graduate programs are open tomen.

"All of the courses in Radcliffe's GraduateStudies Center are co-educational and each of theInstitutes for Advanced Study have had both maleand female fellows," says Radcliffe spokespersonMichael A. Armini.