While the names of the Radcliffe rugby and crew teams are well-established in their respective leagues, being billed as Radcliffe has caused some confusion for the Radcliffe Pitches.

The Pitches—the University’s oldest women’s a capella group—frequently has to explain its name while on tour, according to Pitches President Vivian Lien ’03.

“When we say ‘We’re the Radcliffe Pitches and we’re from Harvard,’ a lot of people don’t understand what that means,” says Lien. “We’ve definitely been introduced as the Harvard Pitches a lot.”

But no one has seriously discussed becoming the Harvard Pitches, Lien says.

“There’s a lot of tradition tied to it,” Lien says.

For the council, however—which has both male and female members—this tradition was no longer desirable.

The council quietly changed its name from the Harvard-Radcliffe Undergraduate Council to the Harvard Undergraduate Council with a motion which passed nearly unanimously after failing in 1999.

Council President Sujean S. Lee ’03 recalls voting in favor of removing the Radcliffe name both times.

“People interpreted the removal of Radcliffe as sort of a slight to women,” Lee says. “When that bill was first brought up the change was more recent and Radcliffe was seen as an embodiment of women at Harvard.”

Lee thinks that time has made the change more palatable.

“I just feel like having the name ‘Radcliffe’ emphasizes a separateness that no longer exists,” Lee says. “In people’s minds it almost make sense that Harvard represents Harvard-Radcliffe.”

—Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu.