Radcliffe Trustees Cut Forum

The Radcliffe Board of Trustees yesterday voted to cut the entire staff of the Radcliffe Forum and five other positions from its 1981 budget as more than 50 students protested the move outside of the Agassiz House meeting.

President Horner said yesterday the staff cuts would save the college $300,000, adding that because Radcliffe receives no tuition from its students it "must protect the purchasing power of its endowment."

Although the budget cuts involve no formal program reductions, elimination of the Forum staff will save Radcliffe $90,000, Horner said. "There's no place else where without cutting programs you can get that kind of saving," Horner added.

The new budget takes $20,000 originally allocated to the Forum and shifts it to the president's office. The money will be used for the salary of an associate dean of the college, who will oversee the Forum's programs, Horner said.

Horner added that salary reductions were an unacceptable form of budget trimming, explaining that "to pay people less than men would be paid is not a viable Radcliffe policy."

During the meeting, students gathered in Radcliffe Yard to protest the proposed Forum staff cuts, contending that such reductions effectively would eliminate the Forum. Radcliffe's Management Policy Committee decided March 23 to recommend the staff cuts to the Board.

At the rally, representatives from three women's groups said they valued the Forum's administrative, informational and clerical support, but above all the psychological support it currently provides them as a program designed primarily for women.

We Have Needs

"We feel the decision to close the Forum was insensitive to the ways the office serves the needs of women studying and working in the Harvard community," Suzanne Marilley, a member of the Women's Student Coalition and a graduate student who spoke at the rally, said yesterday.

Carole G. Williams '83, a member of the Student Advisory Committee to the Forum and an organizer of the rally, said yesterday she believes the maintenance of the Forum is crucial to preserving undergraduate commitment to Radcliffe as a college.

Susan Storey Lyman '49, chairman of the Radcliffe Board of Trustees, yesterday invited representatives of women's groups to a May 5 executive meeting of the Board "to discuss their concerns about the discontinuance of the Forum."

Undergrads First

In a statement released yesterday, Lyman said undergraduate education continues to be Radcliffe's primary concern. She added that Radcliffe would continue its "deep concern and support for programs for graduate women and women in the community."

The members of the women's groups who protested said they are disappointed and frustrated by the Board's decisions. "I am amazed that they could ignore us so completely," Williams said. "We will go to the meeting on the 5th with a statement that this decision is unacceptable," she added.