After a year of meetings, alumnae protests, media scrutiny and competing plans for the future, Cambridge's longest tango came to an end when Harvard and Radcliffe announced their intent to merge.

In a press conference at Radcliffe's Fay House on April 20, officials from both institutions revealed that Radcliffe would relinquish its "college" status sometime this summer to become the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, a division of the University on par with the nine faculties.

"This really is the fulfillment of more than 120 years of a journey that Harvard and Radcliffe undertook together, but separately," said Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine.

The Institute will combine Radcliffe's current educational and research programs with a new cadre of visiting scholars whose work will focus on a wide range of topics, including gender issues.

But it is unclear what the merger will mean for Harvard's undergraduate women. The Institute will not take a formal role in undergraduate education, and Harvard College will assume full responsibility for female students. The future of the undergraduate programs Radcliffe currently operate is unclear, and will likely remain so even after the legal merger is signed, sometime this summer.

In exchange for the title to Radcliffe's 20 acres of prime Cambridge real estate, Harvard will make a "contribution" of $150 million to Radcliffe's existing resources, thus forming a $350 million endowment for the Institute.

Harvard College will formally take over the Radcliffe Quadrangle, where it will continue to house undergraduate students. But the Institute will eventually gain full occupation rights of Byerly and Agassiz Halls, buildings the College currently uses as an admissions office and a performance space, respectively.

Sources say lawyers are working to meet a target date of June 30 for signing the full agreement, the same day Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson will step down as Radcliffe's seventh and final president.

The makeover of the prominent women's college drew headlines nationwide. Some alumnae and current students said they would mourn the loss of their alma mater. But most said they were just glad the wait was over--and are excited about Radcliffe's new incarnation.

"I feel it's a great opportunity if Harvard is willing to take very seriously the mission and history that Radcliffe has represented in terms of advancing women in society," Lissa Muscatine '76 said the day after the announcement.

When the merger deal was made public, Radcliffe officials conceded the possibility that furious alumnae would retract gifts made to the college.

Instead, Radcliffe was able to point to $6.5 million in new gifts made in the three weeks after the announcement as proof that alumnae were on board.

But some alumnae criticized the lack of openness that had shrouded the merger process since its inception two years ago.

"None of us seem to understand why secrecy was essential," said Cecily C. Selby '46, who was a member of the Radcliffe Board of Trustees in the late 1970s. "I'll be loyal forever, but it'll be easier to be loyal now that there are no secrets."

The first public hint that Harvard and Radcliffe were in merger talks came in April 1998, when The Boston Globe reported that Radcliffe's "death" was nigh. Although Wilson and Chairman of the Radcliffe Board of Trustees Nancy-Beth G. Sheerr '71 had little comment, the revelation led to a flurry of media attention and a student rally to "save" Radcliffe.