Creating A Community of Women Scholars at Radcliffe

When Matina S. Horner came to Radcliffe in 1972 as the college's sixth president, scholarship by and about women was on the upswing.

The Women's Movement was at its height, women nationwide were pouring into the workforce, and colleges were beginning to institute women's studies programs.

So when Horner, whose own research on women's fear of success had gained her public acclaim, took over at Radcliffe, she began a program of developing the scholarly resources on women that many cite as one of her principal legacies as she leaves the post after 17 years.

According to the departing president, the lack of women faculty at Harvard, the unavailability of scholarship on women and the dearth of information about women's lives all presented key barriers to women's achievement in scholarship which she felt pressed to address.

"The question was, 'how do we think about the roles that women are in' and 'how do we give them the dignity and the financial remuneration and all the other things they deserve,'" Horner said last week after the announcement that Linda S. Wilson would replace her on July 1.

When she arrived at Radcliffe, Horner says she was faced with an academic situation in which "women had to prove everything that there was." She noticed, she says, "when people recommend men they talk about 'potential' and the 'rough diamond.' When they present women to get a similar position, they have to be 100 times better."

Since the early 1970s, Radcliffe--under Horner--has developed a series of academic programs designed to foster what many call "a community" of women scholars. Most prominent among these programs are the president's much-touted scholarly centers, including the Bunting Institute, the Murray Research Center and the Schlesinger Library.

The Bunting Institute provides funding and office space for younger women scholars seeking to attain recognition, the Murray Research Center acts as a clearinghouse for research on all facets of women's experience, and the Schlesinger Library for the History of Women in America holds one of the foremost women's studies research collections in the country.

Horner's "troika", as the three programs are referred to at Radcliffe, has emerged as the most visible component of the women's college since it ceded control of undergraduate life to Harvard in 1977.

Because Radcliffe does not have its own faculty or students, the scholarly programs provide the influx of new people and fresh scholarship necessary to sustain the school's independent identity, according to many associated with the programs.

As Jacquelyn B. James, a research associate at the Murray Center, says, "the thing that feels different is there really is a supporting community of women."

And Patricia M. King, director of the Schlesinger Library, says "there's a real feeling that this is a separate entity."

But the issue of Radcliffe's relationship to the high-powered, high-profile scholars down Garden St. is never far from the surface in any discussion of women's scholarship at the University.

Unlike the predominantly male faculty at Harvard, the academics at Radcliffe are mostly women--and they tend to focus on issues associated with gender.

But many Radcliffe affiliates say that the role of the institution is to advocate for women at Harvard--in addition to providing an escape from the traditionally male confines of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

And although Horner has resisted engaging in issues directly relating to women faculty hiring at Harvard, she says the Bunting Institute represents a way of increasing the tenure opportunities for women nationwide by providing them with year-long fellowships to research and write.

Although the Bunting Institute was not given its official name until 1978, the research facility was founded by former Radcliffe President Mary I. Bunting in 1960. At that time, according to the institute's Assistant Director Ann Bookman, the program only gave part-time fellowships, accommodating married women just returning to the workforce.

But by 1974, Bookman says, "it was very clear that women needed full-time scholarships." Then, administrators sought not only to create a multi-disciplinary institute, but also one that would directly aid women in academia, she adds.

One program--which just recently ended--was particularly "designed to increase the rate of tenure" for women scholars. The Carnegie Non-tenured Faculty Program, which focused on the support of junior faculty women, proved very effective in aiding women to achieve lifetime posts, Bookman says. Twenty-six of the 35 women who received appointments in the program later gained tenured positions.

Most recently, the Office for Naval Research gave Bunting a three-year grant to support women in the hard sciences--reflecting one of Horner's primary interests. Each year several women will receive an appointment paid for by the grant.

Through such programs, the Bunting Institute is creating what Radcliffe affiliates say is a network of women in academia that will help change the current conditions for female scholars.

The Murray Center focuses not on the specific problem of hiring and promoting women faculty, but on recording and studying women's various experiences. Each year, the Murray Center accommodates more than 10 fellows who have their own funding and a particular research project.

"It was Matina Horner's baby," James says, referring to the program Horner started in 1976. James says the Murray Center is entering its third stage of development, after spending its initial years compiling a large mass of archival data "particularly focusing on women's lives" and then creating procedures to examine the data.

"We're just launching some huge new programs," James says. Those include plans to increase national and international visibility and the use of the center's resources. In addition, she says the program is planning a conference for next spring at which sociologists and anthropologists from Germany will join leading scholars from the U.S.

"We are on a major new initiative. We're on the cutting edge in the use of new methods and certain kinds of data," James asserts.

Recently the Murray Center was awarded an anonymous $3.2 million endowment grant to increase staff and technology resources. The program has also been given money by the MacArthur Foundation to heighten its national visibility.

But while the first two components of the "troika"--the Bunting Institute and the Murray Center--are integral to the definition of a women's scholarly community evolved during Horner's term as president, many say they are removed from women undergraduates and from most women faculty members at Harvard.

Although "one or two [Bunting fellows] are always involved in women's studies," says Olwen Hufton, chair of the Committee on Degrees in Women's Studies, "there is obviously room for more" interaction between women's studies and the Radcliffe programs.

King agrees that "Bunting is probably even further removed" from women scholars and undergraduates at Harvard than some other parts of Radcliffe.

And James says "there really isn't an established connection" between the Murray Center and Harvard's women's studies program. But, she says, "a lot of undergraduates do thesis work here and twice a year we do workshops--one for faculty and one for undergraduates."

The Schlesinger Library, though, plays a different role, according to King. She says about 20 percent of the library's users are undergraduates.

Schlesinger has "changed enormously" during Horner's tenure, King says. "The library has achieved a nationally-known prominence it did not have 17 years ago [when Horner first took office]."

"All people in women's studies use this library," King says, adding that the Schlesinger has an "informal but very important connection" to the Harvard program.

"The Radcliffe resources are increasingly used by the Harvard community," King says--a fact she attributes in part to the new HOLLIS computer system, which gives users access to a wider range of University library holdings.

But beyond creating a scholarly community for women at the University, some faculty members and students say they want the Radcliffe president to take a more assertive role in shaping Harvard policy.

Yet Radcliffe, as Hufton says, is "a hard nut to crack [because the school] has opted for graduate rather than undergraduate [involvement]."

And Horner, despite her interest in academic issues related to women, has scrupulously avoided using her post as a bully pulpit for pressing women's concerns on the Harvard faculty.