So far, Edelman said he has not been given a specific explanation for the denial of his application.
"They [the office of Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth '71] said they had some concerns about the name of the project, that this was the sort of program that might be better done through some of the already existing organization on campus," said Edelman.
The name has been previously used by other campaigns, although Edelman said that he and Novak chose it before learning that it was not original.
In 1996, seniors Megan L. Peimer '97 and Ezra W. Reese '97 established an Alternative Senior Gift fund, asking students to withhold their donations from the University and hold them in private accounts until Harvard hired more women as tenured Faculty.
University officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.