As Radcliffe Looks Ahead, Harvard Still Seems Wary

In the months since it was revealed that Radcliffe College's future was up in the air--the subject of secret negotiations between college officials and Harvard brass--Radcliffe classes and programs have gone on as always.

But business as usual for Radcliffe should end in 1999. Sources say the 119-year-old independent college will likely announce sweeping changes in the coming months, likely assuming a role as an "allied institution" under the Harvard umbrella.

Radcliffe officials have been dropping hints about this impending change for months.

"I don't want to be still making a decision when the year 2000 rolls around," said Vice President for College Relations Bonnie R. Clendenning in December. "We have to get on with it."

Now, according to one source, Radcliffe officials are finally setting aside money from the Communications Office budget for the so-called "changeover." These funds would cover costs of publicizing a new Radcliffe, not to mention altering stationary and business cards to reflect any possible name change.

But other sources close to the talks between the two schools say the negotiations haven't yet considered the details. Instead, they say Radcliffe insists on negotiating on the big-picture level, while Harvard stubbornly focuses on the fine print. One high-level observer said only in the past few weeks have more specific talks zeroed in on financial and legal stumbling blocks to an agreement. Outstanding issues include the fate of Radcliffe's $200 million endowment and its prime Cambridge real estate.

The two sides are continuing talks--Radcliffe College President Linda S. Wilson and Radcliffe Board of Trustees Chairman Nancy Beth G. Sheerr may meet as early as this Sunday with members of the Harvard Corporation.

Radcliffe first hit the news last April, with the revelation that Sheerr and Wilson had been conducting closed-door bargaining sessions with Harvard, discussing a possible merger between the two schools.

Reports then suggested Radcliffe might drop its residual claims on undergraduate women and become a research institution allied with Harvard.

In the intervening months, the major players in these negotiations have said precious little about what the Radcliffe of the future will look like.

Instead, proposals have emerged from Harvard faculty members as well as Radcliffe alumnae, whose ideas were solicited after some complained that they were being shut out of the process.

With the details of a bilateral agreement still not ironed out, some now say that Radcliffe needs to make some sort of announcement soon--no matter if Harvard is on board or not.

"We can keep on doing classes, we can keep on doing programs, but so much has been written in the media that there is a heightened expectation that there is going to be some earth-shattering change," Clendenning said in December.

A rash of administrative departures has hit Radcliffe in recent months. While Radcliffe spokesperson Michael A. Armini has repeatedly said the timing of the departures was coincidental, others have noted that keeping employees is hard with the future of the institution in doubt.

"It must be very difficult to work in a climate where it feels like things are uncertain," said Radcliffe College Alumnae Association Secretary Susan Eaton '79.

Radcliffe may need an announcement soon for financial reasons as well as public-image ones. The institution's capital campaign, begun in 1992, is still $30 million shy of its $100 million goal with only two years left to go.

News reports of the secret negotiations caused a jump in giving from worried alumnae last spring. But since then that embattled atmosphere has faded into a wait-and-see attitude, which some speculate may have resulted in a drop-off in alumnae giving.