Faust and Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles ’67 have already spoken about changing the agreement, and Niemiec says she expects the arrangement to be changed within six months.

Knowles was less clear about a time frame for change, but wrote in an email that “My personal hope is that we can move to amore open arrangement where our alumnae don’t feel neglected by Harvard and where our alumni feel able also to give to the Radcliffe Institute.”

Though the amount of money Radcliffe has raised this year for its annual fund is not available until after June 30, Dunn told The Crimson last spring that she was concerned that the number of donors to last year’s annual fund had dropped in the wake of the Radcliffe merger.

Dunn noted however, that the total amount given to the annual fund last year—$2.6 million—was not significantly lower than previous years.

Rogers says that the annual fund figure was a tad bit higher than normal last year because of a $400,000 donation from an anonymous donor.

Fineberg—who was central to brokering the merger between Harvard and Radcliffe—says that the desire on the part of some Radcliffe representatives’ to keep the pre-1977 alumnae from Harvard solicitations is rooted in emotions, rather than financial realities.

“It’s an emotional as well as a practical issue, and maybe a financial issue. I’m not sure it makes much difference actually,” he says. “With each passing month, the whole psychology about what it is to be part of Harvard is evolving.”

Raadcliffe’s Rocky Road

While Radcliffe may want to open up the pre-1977 alumnae to Harvard fundraising efforts, they may not be able to until they are on solid financial ground and have secured long-term sources of revenue other than alumnae donations.

The financially motivated mid-level position cuts that came last week may help Radcliffe trim expenses in the short term.

But Faust and other administrators say that corporate and foundation funding may be the missing link for Radcliffe in in the long run.

“Foundation funding should be important and we are having some very good luck with organizing corporate sponsorship,” Rogers says.