And even after Faust and Knowles decided to reexamine the agreement, practical considerations lingered.

“It turned out that the logistical details are much more complicated than anyone thought,” explains Ann E. Berman, a senior advisor to Knowles who was involved in negotiating the new agreement.

Unlike their predecessors, who negotiated the Harvard-Radcliffe merger in top secret board rooms, Faust and Knowles drafted this just-released letter through a series of e-mail exchanges over winter vacation.

“I can assure you that the process was very much more ‘joint’ than anything that has occurred between Harvard and Radcliffe for a few decades,” Knowles wrote in a later e-mail to The Crimson.

But even with a more collaborative effort, the smallest details had to be ironed out in order to ensure that both institutions were presented on equal terms.

Everything from signatures to the letterhead had to be negotiated, Knowles notes.

“It was very collegial and fun,” Faust says.

An Uncertain Future

Both Harvard and Radcliffe administrators who brokered the new agreement say they are uncertain whether it will impact either schools’ fundraising efforts.

“I think we all are in the dark about this,” Faust says.

And the full impact may not be clear for some time, as the Harvard Development Office will not begin large-scale solicitations of the pre-1976 Radcliffe alums until next year.

“No one wanted to mix up fundraising with a welcoming and inclusive gesture,” explains Radcliffe Associate Dean for Advancement Tamara Elliott Rogers ’74.

Logistical concerns also factored in to the timetable.

“Radcliffe asked for that, I think mostly to have a chance to get their own house in order,” Berman says.

Radcliffe administrators stress that the decision to change the fundraising rules was not made for financial reasons.