Do you think Radcliffe’s identity has changed? How?

It has definitely changed. The Radcliffe I knew was an undergraduate education for women and limited to that. There were five men to every woman. Some of the privileges that were available to Harvard were not available to us. It was a different era all together. We were just being educated to be helpmeets to ‘the great man.’ Radcliffe at the time offered a class in the summer in typing and shorthand so that we could get jobs after we graduated.

What do you think is in Radcliffe’s future?

I couldn’t say. I do hope that the Institute or some other organization will stay as an agency for women at Harvard. Perhaps because of our history, I am concerned that women might get the short shrift, and that would be regression. I don’t know whether it should be up to the Institute or what, but it has been the role in Radcliffe in the past.

barbara healey killian ’53

Killian graduated with a degree in English. She now lives in Ducksbury, Mass. After graduation, she taught school and did volunteer work.

Did you ever expect Harvard and Radcliffe to merge?

At the time, it was first proposed and this was in the ’70s, I thought, well they’re just making official what has evolved over the years. I do remember that some of my aunt’s friends from earlier in the century shook their heads and said this is the end of Radcliffe, but I didn’t feel that way.

What do you think of what Radcliffe has become—an institute for advanced study?

A. I have very great respect for Dean Faust and feel that the Institute is a wonderful opportunity for women and serves a definite need for academic women—that aspect is positive. Unfortunately, I don’t have any identity or ownership in it. In some ways I am ambivalent about the keeping of the Radcliffe name. I don’t think the merger in the long run was that beneficial to undergraduate women. I know things change over the years, but I do feel that experience I had was very special. Young women today don’t have the support and sense of community and bonding with other women that we had.

Did the merger agreement impact you at all?