Months After Merger, RUS Has Yet to File for Official Group Status

Becoming a recognized student group requires filling out some simple paperwork and getting two Faculty signatures.

The Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) has had a whole year to register--but hasn't yet made the trip to University Hall.

College recognition, however, is key to the group's survival.

Without it, RUS cannot poster on campus, can't use University space for meetings and can't apply for College funding.

With it, the group could have a permanent slot on the Ann Radcliffe Trust's faculty-student advisory board. The board will dole out nearly $20,000 in grants to student groups with an interest in women's issues next year.

But many months after the merger between Harvard and Radcliffe, RUS Co-President Kathryn B. Clancy '01 says the group has not gotten around to registering.

"There isn't anything to say about this...We haven't done it because I asked the secretary [of RUS] to about two months ago and she hasn't done it yet. That's all there is to it," Clancy writes in an e-mail message.

Clancy said in February she did not understand why RUS had to register with the College.

"There's so much else to worry about, [registering] hasn't been top priority. There is so much more to helping female undergraduates then filling out some papers, we keep forgetting about it," she said in February. "This is an added layer of bureaucracy that we didn't used to have to worry about."

In February, Clancy had said RUS would soon be filing the necessary form with the College.

Once Radcliffe College's student government, RUS must seek recognition because Radcliffe no longer has a role in undergraduate education. As a result, the organization now falls under Harvard's domain.

The group voted in the winter to accept men as members, hurtling its major obstacle to becoming a recognized Harvard student group.

While the College has taken down posters from the Seneca, another unrecognized student group, it has thus far allowed RUS to continue to sponsor events and poster on campus despite its unrecognized status.

But College administrators have been in touch with group members, encouraging them to register.

Mary Maples Dunn, acting dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, wrote to RUS earlier this spring, asking them about their plans to register.

Karen E. Avery '87, associate dean of Harvard College, has also been in contact with the group.

And Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 says while he understands the challenges facing the group, he doesn't regard it as unreasonable to expect RUS to register.

"We do hope the group will soon find time to complete the simple registration procedure, like the other 300+ student organizations operating at Harvard," he writes in an e-mail message.