The Faculty and student advisory committee of the Ann Radcliffe Trust met for the first time yesterday afternoon and discussed the role the Trust will play on campus and possible projects it could undertake.

The composition of the Trust committee--which includes 17 undergraduates and 10 members of the Faculty and administration--represents a sharp departure from the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) student-only membership which doled out grants for women's groups until this year.

The Trust meeting took place on the eve of what could be one of the Radcliffe Union of Students' (RUS) last meetings to dole out funds to student groups.

The Trust committee talked yesterday about some of the largest challenges facing the Trust--including how future members of the committee might be chosen and possibilities for a grant structure to fund student groups--but few definite conclusions were reached. Karen E. Avery '87, associate dean of Harvard College and director of the Trust, chaired the meeting.

The Trust will have nearly $20,000 annually to dole out to student groups with an interest in women's issues.

The Trust effectively assumes what had been RUS's role in distributing funds from the now defunct $5 term bill fee that was charged to all undergraduate women before Radcliffe College's merger with Harvard. Members of RUS will gather tonight in the Lyman Common Room to interview applicants for the roughly $2,000 of funds they have to appropriate this semester to student groups with an interest in women's issues.

While the Trust committee as a whole discussed how they will fund student groups, Avery is forming a sub-committee that will deal specifically with the grants process structure.

"I need to have the grants committee up and running," Avery said.