Plus, she says men may never form a majority ofits scholars, as the Bunting aims to continue itsmission of helping female scholars. Somefellowships, particularly those in the sciences,are funded by government money that is restrictedto woman scholars.

"It's certainly legal to have initiatives whichfocus on women," Brock says.

According to Brock, the mission of the Buntinghas changed since it was first outlined byPresident Bunting. Instead of combating "theclimate of unexpectation," the institute must nowhelp combat an atmosphere of what she calls"hyperexpectation."

"There's this myth that the doors are wideopen, and all high-achieving women need to do iscome in and do everthing," she says. "Just becauseyou open the door doesn't mean people want youthere."

The Fellow Fellow

And, with the Bunting poised to open its doorsto both men and women, a man who calls himself oneof the Bunting's two male alumni says theinstitute will survive the change.

Steven Schlossman, now the chair of the historydepartment at Carnegie Mellon University, workedat the Bunting between 1977 and 1979. Of the morethan 1,200 academics who have studied at theinstitute, Schlossman believes himself to be oneof only two men in the Bunting's alumni pool.

"I never did ask whether or not they meant toopen the competition to men or if it was anoversight," Schlossman says.

But according to Kilson, whose tenure at theBunting overlapped with Schlossman's, fellowshipswere in her time--and, according to her knowledge,up until this year--always limited to women.

She says that Schlossman's designation as oneof about five "research associates" meant that theBunting's strict gender requirements for fellowsdid not apply to him. Furthermore, despite thefact that men were allowed to apply for researchassociateships, Kilson says she knows of only oneother man to have served in that capacity.

Schlossman, then one of the only men pursuingthe newly born field of women's history at theUniversity of Chicago, says he examined theBunting's application from "every interpretativeangle." Surprised to find an institute positionthat did not explicitly exclude men, Schlossmanmailed off his rsum. Within a few months, he foundout he was in.

"Since the door was open, I was going to try toenter it," Schlossman says.

But Schlossman says his presence was not animpediment to the workings of the institute.Rather, he calls his story one of "easyintegration," in which he was eagerly acceptedinto a salon of scholars conducting groundbreakingresearch, all centered around Radcliffe'sSchlesinger Library.

"I wasn't there to be the token male among agroup of women's scholars," says Schlossman, whowas referred to by his female peers as the "fellowfellow."

"I would have felt that I had been denied animportant opportunity to be with cutting edgescholars in a new and exciting field if I had beendenied [the opportunity] to apply equally," headds.