The fate of these endowment accounts kept administrators and lawyers busy for weeks, according to Dunn.

In the end, sources say Fineberg set out a principle for negotiators: funds would stay at the new Institute whenever legally possible.

"Anytime there was any doubt, Radcliffe kept it," said one source. "Radcliffe only gave the money to financial aid when it legally had to."

Sources say total financial aid funds will not change as a result of the deal, as FAS will make up any shortfall in Radcliffe's financial aid contributions.

But some alumnae worry that the new arrangement could ignore the wishes of some donors, who donated to Radcliffe College years before the new Institute was conceived.

"What we [alumnae] are concerned with is women at Harvard, and we are less concerned with the Institute," says Adeline L. Naiman '46. "I suspect that money was given by alums for financial aid. It makes me a little uncomfortable to see Harvard or Radcliffe turning funds that were donated for that purpose away from that purpose."

Naiman encouraged administrators to consult with all living donors of the restricted endowments funds about the future of the funds.

While Radcliffe Board of Trustees Chairman Nancy-Beth G. Sheerr '71admits no such attempt was made, she insists that donor's intent was "the bottom line" in determining where any fund is to be spent.