At Harvard, women sit in the same classrooms as men, live in the same Houses and, at least according to the administration, have an equal shot at tapping into Harvard's abundant resources.

Or do they? Many women on campus question whether, despite the apparent equality, they have the same opportunities as their male colleagues and friends.. Today's problems, they say, may be less visible than the outward discrimination earlier in the century, but they are just as inhibiting and repressive.

The bra-burning, placard-carrying image of feminism may no longer be accurate, but women say activism, perhaps of a different sort, is still needed.

"I came to realize that Harvard was also a white, male institution like any other," says Sophia Chang '01, who is the former co-chair of Girlspot, a group for campus lesbians, bisexuals and questioning women. "In fact, this is the belly of the beast. If there's any place to be this is it. If you're fighting the beast, stay in the belly, find out where it goes."

Women's groups at Harvard have mobilized and united in recent months as several large issues played themselves out on campus. On Oct. 1, Radcliffe College merged with Harvard and lost its status as an independent college. Last spring the Faculty voted to dismiss two male undergraduates who had been convicted in the courts of sexual assault.

These two issues galvanized the campus to action--at least for a couple months. But some of the most vocal activists on campus say they feel the majority of the student body is largely apathetic about women's issues.

At Harvard Today

While most Harvard undergraduates say the feminist movement has been beneficial to the advancement of women, few have actively aligned themselves with the movement on campus.

"I think there is a strong feminist presence on campus that doesn't necessarily make itself known," says Shauna L. Shames '01, a member of the Coalition Against Sexual Violence and an advocate for the creation of a women's center at Harvard.

A core group of students on campus have set out to counteract what they see as difficulties facing women at Harvard. The Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS), the Women's Leadership Project (WLP) and the Coalition Against Sexual Violence have been some of the most vocal supporters of women's issues.

Campus women's groups have joined together this winter to write a Women's Guide to Harvard that will include information about women's resources--both academic and extra-curricular. It will be modeled in format after the Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard, a book that is distributed to every first year.

Kamil E. Redmond '00, the former undergraduate council vice-president who is spearheading the effort with Peggy T. Lim '00, says the editors hope to have the guide put together in time to mail to all incoming female first-years.

"There will be copies available for men too if they want them," she adds.

And after the demise of Radcliffe, women say they need a space on campus to call their own.

Women can no longer use the Lyman Common Room in Agassiz House, a space that was used in the past as an area to hold meetings, gather with friends and generally discuss women's issues.