She added that the Bunting fellowship could also provide an opportunity for established academics “to change directions or develop new capacities.”

But Sands expressed concern that despite the acknowledgement of a “continued commitment to women, gender and society” in Radcliffe’s mission statement, women and gender do not play a “clearly central role” in the fellowship program’s latest incarnation.

“So far as we can see, there are no specific procedures in place to actually make that happen,” she said. “We wonder therefore how deep the commitment of the new Radcliffe Institute is to structuring that.”

But Faust points to this year’s class of fellows, which she described as “heavily focused on gender issues,” and the recent appointment of four prominent women scholars as Radcliffe faculty as reflections of a “strong Institute interest in gender studies.”

The Life Of The Letter

Though the letter was initiated and written by Bunting fellows, former Bunting director Rita N. Brock and public policy fellows Deborah Belle and Kathleen Coll also signed the letter as “additional supporters.”

The letter came as a result of a series of regular, open meetings between fellows last spring after the ad hoc committee report was released to the fellows, explained Sands.

The fellows’ response was “mixed” last spring after several meetings with Faust to discuss the proposed changes, Sawaya said, and a written response to “keep the dialogue going” was deemed appropriate.

Macdonald stressed that the letter was intended as constructive criticism.

“Most of us are really excited about the changes that are happening at Radcliffe,” she said.

But maintaining the fellowship program’s “affirmative action mandate” in “at least some” of the fellowships is paramount, she said.

“Instead of being a community of equals, there really does appear to be a kind of a star system instituted,” Sands said, emphasizing that recruiting prominent women does more to help Harvard’s faculty diversity problems than to advance feminist scholarship.

But Faust said Radcliffe will continue to encourage scholarship on gender issues.

‘The stated mission of the Radcliffe Institute gives a prominent place to the study of women, gender and society, and Radcliffe’s programs will continue to do just that,” she said.

--Staff writer Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at shoichet@fas.harvard.edu