Fundraising at Stake for New President

While most plans at Radcliffe are on hold until the new president arrives this July, Radcliffe officials say the college is facing fundraising challenges that could threaten the institution's ability to support future programs.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the search committee appointed a year ago to find a successor to current President Matina S. Horner had selected Yale Professor of Psychology Judith Rodin as their candidate for the job.

Rodin has yet to respond to the offer, and Radcliffe officials are keeping closemouthed about the chances that Rodin, an expert in women's health research, will take the job.

The Yale professor has substantial experience with administrative work--she currently oversees a $10 million MacArthur Foundation grant and has chaired Yale faculty committees on long-term planning, finances, race relations and ethics in research.

But most agree that the top challenge Rodin will face, should she choose to accept the presidency, is fundraising.

"Since Radcliffe is waiting for a new president to be announced we should not make any statements [about the fundraising problem]," said one Radcliffe administrator yesterday.

But the problem still remains. College sources said yesterday that Radcliffe is finding it increasingly difficult to raise the money needed to support the scholarly programs expanded during Horner's tenure as president. Those include the Schlesinger Library, the Bunting Institute and the Murray Research Center.

Radcliffe fundraising "has been a difficult problem," Vice President for Finance Robert H. Scott acknowledged yesterday. People who graduated after 1976 "tend to identify with Harvard," he said, making them less likely to give directly to Radcliffe.

Besides raising money through the investment of its $85 million endowment, Radcliffe seeks donations from its graduates to help finance its yearly expenditures. But these donations to Radcliffe have diminished recently : because women who graduated after 1975, when Harvard and Radcliffe merged their admissions offices, give to a Harvard-Radcliffe fund, most of which goes to the University endowment.

In addition, Radcliffe, like other non-profit institutions, is faced with a greater financial burden, as federal funding for higher education continues to decrease.

"It gets harder and harder each year to raise money because everybody's being solicited," says one Radcliffe fundraiser.

Under the current arrangement with Harvard, Radcliffe pays all of its tuition money to Harvard in exchange for the University's overseeing admissions, undergraduate education and the Quad houses. In addition, the small percentage of money that Radcliffe does receive from the Harvard-Radcliffe fund goes right back to the financial aid office instead of contributing to Radcliffe's annual expenses.

Until Horner's successor arrives, however, the Radcliffe fundraisers say they will keep on competing for the limited funds available without making any long-term adjustments.

Although one administrator said, "Matina Horner is not a lame duck," she added that fundraising solutions will not be announced until the new president takes office.

"When a new president arrives she'll want to make a statement," the Radcliffe administrator said.

"There are probably things that can be done [about the fundraising issue], but I'm not at liberty to say," the development official said. But, she added, "I know the issues are being addressed."