But, for all its defenses, Radcliffe hasrecently agreed with those concerned about thelegality of the Bunting Institute and agreed toopen its doors to men.

Brock says application materials for nextyear's fellowships, which will be distributed inJune, will more explicitly outline agender-neutral policy at the Bunting.

And Brock says recent talks between Harvard andRadcliffe helped motivate this change.

"The speed at which it was looked at wascertainly affected by [the talks]," Brock says."Harvard is extremely risk averse for good reason.Harvard has a very large endowment that someonewould like to get their hands on--it's fiscallyresponsible to avoid lawsuits."

While Brock says she has had no role in thenegotiations, one high-level observer notes thatensuring the legality of Radcliffe's programs isessential to any final deal.

"Harvard doesn't break the law," says thesource. "Anything that becomes part of Harvardmust be absolutely consistent with Title IX."

A Whole New World

But some Bunting scholars claim that the veryessence of the Bunting would change if men wereadmitted. Fellows already study widely disparatefields. The addition of men to the mix mightloosen the glue that holds the Bunting together.

"[If men are admitted] it would just be a placelike any other," says Tracy Isaacs, a currentBunting fellow studying philosophy. "It wouldn'tbe unique anymore. You might as well stay at yourhome institution and feel like you're one of theonly women."

"It would be a completely differentenvironment," says fellow Bunting scholar AnnFerentz. "It would set up at the Bunting a sort ofhierarchy--the sort of system we're trying toavoid."

Even Wilson has explicitly extolled the virtuesof the Bunting's single-sex membership in thepast. She told undergraduates at a dinner meetingin December that the all-women community of theBunting is "freeing."

"It's almost like magic," Wilson said then."It's a comfortable community. They learn to talkacross the disciplines, and that gets the braincells spinning."

But Brock maintains that what distinguishes theBunting--which the Boston Globe Magazine oncecalled "America's Think Tank for Women"--would notchange fundamentally with the addition of men.

"The community of women [at the Bunting] hasalways included men," Brock points out.

Even more importantly, Brock stresses that theunderlying respect accorded to incoming femalescholars will not change.