Radcliffe Considers Merit of Same-Sex Programs

Publishing was always interesting to Trisha L. Manoni '99, but until last spring break she didn't know whether she wanted to make it a career--she had never even been to a publishing house.

Then she went on a Radcliffe Externship. For a week, Manoni was paired with Ann B. LaFarge '54, an editor at Kensington Publishing in New York. She went to LaFarge's meetings, lived in her apartment, and shared meals with her. By the end of Spring Break, Manoni's mind was made up.

"Because of that week, I looked for a job in publishing over the summer...and now I'm looking for a job in publishing after graduation," Manoni said.

Manoni chose a Radcliffe program over the similar spring break internships offered by Harvard's Office of Career Services (OCS). But she says the choice had nothing to do with the externships' supportive, all-female nature.

"I went to the OCS informational meeting, and they actually didn't offer anything in publishing," she said. "From that standpoint it was easy to decide. OCS didn't offer an internship in what I wanted to do, and Radcliffe did."

Manoni's experience points to a unique feature of Radcliffe's undergraduate programs--the externships, mentorships and research partnerships that Radcliffe officials tout as some of the college's brightest successes. Designed to create an enriching, all-female environment for undergraduates, they are among the only academic programs at the University that remain single-sex.

Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson has repeatedly called for "a real push for effective partnerships between men and women"--but there are few concrete plans to extend that partnership to all of Radcliffe's undergraduate ventures.

Radcliffe administrators offer a number of reasons why those projects exclude male undergraduates, including size, expense and the desire to create a level playing field for women.

But if the past year's negotiations between Harvard and Radcliffe result in a merger between the two institutions, University officials say those reasons will not be enough to preserve the programs for women only.

According to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68, the only exceptions to the rule that "Harvard College opportunities must be open to all students able to take advantage of them" are sports teams and choral groups--not internships.

"I cannot imagine any circumstances under which Harvard College would want to alter its present policies in this area," Lewis said in an e-mail message. "I do not think there is any justification for making some resources available to only one sex at Harvard."

A Patchwork of Programs

Trying to sort through all of Radcliffe's undergraduate programs can be confusing. Radcliffe's Web site lists a dozen "undergraduate opportunities" ranging from lecture series and study breaks to student-run groups like Education 4 Action and the Radcliffe Union of Students.

The most prestigious, competitive offerings are alumnae- and faculty-driven. Externships pair students with alums over spring break, while mentorships allow undergraduates to discuss career choices and build relationships with Boston-area graduates.

Research partnerships allow faculty members and affiliates of Radcliffe's institutes to hire undergraduates as research assistants. In addition, Radcliffe officials tout their newly expanded creative writing program.

All these offerings, with the exception of creative writing, are open to female undergraduates only.

Radcliffe's Dean of Educational Programs Tamar March defends the exclusion of men by comparing her programs to Harvard's all-male final clubs.

"When I have students coming to ask me about final clubs for women [for networking purposes]...the answer is we have that at Radcliffe. They're not about power and influence, they're about mentoring," March said.

Some undergraduates who have taken part in the programs take a similar stand.

"The program would be destroyed" if it were integrated, said Gisela I. Mohring '00. "I don't think [men] would get as much out of it as we would... Women don't have these old-boy networks as men do--programs like these bridge the gap."

These women say the programs' all-female environment is a vital counterpart to the male-dominated atmosphere at Harvard, giving undergraduates role models that are unavailable elsewhere.

"I really like the fact that my mentor was a woman," said Aziza J. Johnson '00. "I felt like if I wanted to work with a man, I could have done it through the Harvard career internship program. I really like being able to talk about what it's like to be a woman, to ask if she thinks her gender has helped or hurt her."

On the other hand, though, March and others acknowledge that Radcliffe's programs offer advantages that even Harvard's programs sometimes can't--like intimate size and personal contact with administrators--and from which male students might also benefit.

"Programs in mentoring are expensive," March said. "They're something a large institution like Harvard couldn't do, but we can."

Johnson said that because of past discrimination, she isn't concerned that the programs provide opportunities for women that men don't have.

"Women have so many obstacles to overcome when they go into a professional environment anyway, that having this program just for women is something that's needed," Johnson said. "Allowing men to come in might mean that less women get externship opportunities."

But others say that prohibiting men, however well intended, isn't fair.

"It's such an incredible opportunity," said Lauren S. Charno '99, who spent last spring break in Washington, D.C., with New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda J. Greenhouse '68. "I definitely think men should have the same opportunity as women do."

'A Rare Find'

The externship program is a good example of an opportunity closed to men.

While OCS offers a similar spring break internship program with Harvard alums, some students--like Manoni--say Radcliffe's program offers externships in career fields that its counterpart does not.

In addition, most OCS interns have to find their own housing, whereas Radcliffe's externships give undergraduates the chance to live with their sponsors and observe how they balance career and family--a crucial difference, participants say.

"The ability to live and work with somebody, to go to work with somebody, to read the newspaper, to cook dinner together--it's the things that seem really minor that make this experience so valuable," Charno said.

"It was one of the best things I've done here," Charno added. "This was a rare find--I felt very lucky to be a part of it."

Seeing both professional and family components of an alumna's life is especially important for women, said Andrea H. Kurtz '01, who had an externship last spring break.

"I don't see how it could hold the same benefits for males, because I don't see them dealing with the same sort of divergence that some people encounter in choosing between pursuing a family directly after college and pursuing a career," she said.

Men may need to learn that juggling act too, but women have a more pressing need, said Susan C. Eaton '79, a Radcliffe researcher who specializes in family issues.

"There are different responsibilities that men and women tend to have," Eaton said. "[Externs] are watching [women] manage childcare, work, professional commitments at night, family concerns over the weekend."

Assistant Dean of the College Karen E. Avery '87 agreed that when the Harvard College Women's Initiative held a panel on career and family earlier this year, few men came. But she said she nevertheless made sure there was a man on the panel and that male students were welcome to attend.

"I think it's important for men to interact with the program," Avery said. "If we're going to support and enhance the position of women in our society, we have to educate the men...I think it's important to show men, 'Hey, this is your issue too.'"

Change in the Works?

While Radcliffe officials say there are no immediate plans to open the undergraduate programs to both sexes, there are rumblings that a change might be coming.

Few specifics have been forthcoming. Fay House has repeatedly refused to discuss which particular issues--like single-sex academic programs--are on the table in its possible merger negotiations with Harvard.

However, in declining comment, Radcliffe spokesperson Michael A. Armini said that such issues "may be part of Radcliffe's discussions with Harvard."

March has also avoided specifics about the future of the single-sex programs.

Asked if her office has considered expanding the programs to include men, she said, "There's a lot of people with very different opinions about it...I think we'll discuss it." She added that any serious discussions about broadening Radcliffe's offerings would be unprecedented.

However, March later said in an e-mail message that students should not expect significant changes anytime soon.

"Nothing is on the table about the traditional Radcliffe programs at the moment; it has simply been my own policy to be welcoming to men," she wrote.

However, faced with similar questions about exclusionary policies, Rita Nakashima Brock, the director of Radcliffe's all-female Bunting Institute, said last month that she would make the application process gender-neutral starting next year.

As a women-only post-graduate institution, the Bunting's legal status was dubious--federal Title IX law prohibits gender-based discrimination in most educational programs.

Title IX contains an exemption for traditionally all-female undergraduate colleges, though, so Radcliffe's undergraduate programs are probably safe from litigation.

But a new "Harvard without Radcliffe" would not have such an exemption, and Lewis stresses that the College's non-discrimination statement forbids gender distinctions in most programs, especially academic ones.

Radcliffe's nondiscrimination statement--which notes that Radcliffe makes personnel decisions "on the basis of an individual's qualifications to share in the College's educational objectives and contribute to its institutional needs"--mentions neither sex nor gender explicitly. The statement seems to allow Radcliffe to steer politely away from including men in all its programs--a policy that has remained unchanged since its founding.

The community Wilson heads may be forced to rethink such delicate language--even with a strong belief in its underlying principles.

"If you look around at what's happening in institutions that are already co-ed, there are from time to time events or activities that are single-sex," Wilson said in June. "You have a good reason for having something that focuses on just one set of people."