One Forum Less

When the Management Policy Committee of the Radcliffe Board of Trustees last week decided to save $300,000 in its 1981 budget by eliminating ten staff positions, it dealt a death blow to the Radcliffe Forum.

The entire Forum staff--two administrative and three clerical positions--will disappear if the full Radcliffe Board of Trustees approves the decision at its April 10 meeting.

Despite the elimination of the Forum staff, Burton I. Wolfman, administrative dean of Radcliffe, said yesterday most of the Forum's programs will continue under the auspices of President Horner's office. He added that the president's office may hire an associate dean to coordinate those programs.

"With the loss of staff, there will be some slowdown in timing. The challenge we face is not to let that slowdown become a crawl," Wolfman said.

"I still like the concept of a Forum. We will still maintain Forum-type things. What is going to be different is the academic overhead underlying them," Horner said yesterday.

Jamie A. Murray, a staff assistant at the Forum, said yesterday two of the Forum's programs will continue under the administration of other Radcliffe-affiliated organizations. The Schlesinger Library will handle the Gilman speaker series and the Alumni Association will coordinate the externship program, she said.

Despite the continuation of many of the Forum's functions, Murray said the staff was "disappointed" and "dismayed" by the decision.