Alumnac would probably be willing to contribute more money after merger. Although there might be an initial emotional reaction to the merger that would decrease contributions, more women would be willing to give to the University, rather than to Radcliffe. Special endowment funds for women exist now, and would continue after merger, as will the Radcliffe Institue, so that those people who wish to contribute specifically for women's education may do so. But many women who do not contribute to Radclice would contribute to a merged Harvard. Less than 50 per cent of alumnae presently give to Radcliffe at any time during their lives. At other women's colleges, where women's education is totally separated from male institutions, the percentage is much higher. Eighty per cent of Vassar's graduates contribute, as do a large percentage of Smith and Mt. Hoyloke women. Radcliffe alumnae are not now asked to contribute directly to the institution-Harvard-that educated them.

Although the presence of other women at Radcliffe contribute strongly to a female undergraduate's growth at college, a large part of the intellectual stimulation comes from the Harvard community as a whole: coeducational Harvard classes and extra-curricular groups contribute substantially to the education of both male and female undergraduates.

MANY women-both alumnae and undergraduate women's liberation groups-are opposed to merger because they feel women and women's education would be submerged once Radcliffe no longer exists as a strong proponent of women in the University. Men neither understand nor accept women's needs in education. Women do not receive the attention at Harvard that men do. The Radcliffe Institute was created to educate women who left their educations when they were young to raise families.

Radcliffe's career planning office keeps files for alumnae throughout their lives, so that they may start jobs years after they have graduated and still have records and recommendations from their college performance. The Radcliffe administration is a sort of lobbying group for women within the University. Some women feel that no such group would exist after merger, and that women would gradually be forced into the male framework of the whole University.

These are valid-but not insurmountable-objections that must be considered during the merger negotiations. Obviously, the Radcliffe Institute can-and will-be kept. The Harvard and Radcliffe career planning offices should merge, and could without the loss of record-keeping for women. The effects of separate offices are much worse than a merged one could be. Large firms send recruiters to Harvard to find management trainees, highly skilled scientists, and other jobs requiring good minds and good educations. The same companies go to Radcliffe to recruit secretaries. If both sexes were under the same planning office, such discrimination would not be possible-companies might even be too embarrassed to ask for Harvard graduates to work as secretaries.

The issue of women's education is one that will require considerable study and commitments before merger passes. The problem with separate institutions, however, is that Radcliffe is not independent. Women depend on Harvard totally for their classroom education. Caroline W. Bynum, assistant professor of History, pointed out recently that the position of women at Harvard bears some resemblance to that of blacks in the nation: "The men have all the intellectual resources, just as the whites have all the money." Now Radcliffe must contract with Harvard for women's education. It is either not possible to exert pressure from Radcliffe on Harvard's attitudes, or no one has really tried. Men such as Peterson can point to Radcliffe and say "not diverse," or "unimportant" very easily. After all, those students are not really Harvard's. Harvard does not have to take the responsibility for women as long as it can think that the special needs of women are Radcliffe's responsibility. If Harvard had one coeducational student body and administration to look after the special interests of women, then the men might start treating women on an equal basis. If women's education were the responsibility of the whole group, eventually Harvard would feel that it could take pride in its women as well as in its men.

Mrs. Bunting has suggested that there be some form of women's organization for all the undergraduates, an expanded Radcliffe Union of Students. RUS may not be the ideal group for this function, but it also might be revitalized by having a distinct function within the community.

The person who could influence the prospects and realities of merger most is the new President of Harvard. Proponents of merger all emphasize that the president will have to feel a strong commitment to women's education. Were a man like Chase Peterson to become president, merger probably would not pass, and women would be kept in their present state of limbo between a full education within the University and the separate education that other colleges have had since their inception. A president committed to equality of women within the University could bring the whole community together and possibly influence new innovations in women's education.

THE TIMETABLE for merger is still vague. Over the summer, a committee of two members of the Harvard Corporation and two Radcliffe Trustees will gather recommendations from the community and present a report in the Fall. (Recommendations should be sent to the Corporation-Trustee/Committee, c/o The Secretary to the Corporation, Massachusetts Hall.) Although Pusey has been in favor of merger, it is unlikely that any action will be taken on megrer until after the new president takes office. Many problems are still unresolved, and serious detail-by-detail negotiations could take more than a year. Some details have been merged within the last year, including the housing and the Administration Boards of the two colleges.

Harvard has always prided itself in its leadership-both in national issues of education, and in providing ment to lead the nation. Since 1636, "First" and then "Best" have been words on the lips of Harvard men when referring to their alma mater. Some of that is true: Harvard is an excellent university, and it has taken stands in the past that have led the way for others.

Yet on the issue of women, Harvard is still decades behind, when it could once again be a leader. Harvard, which supposedly forms the minds that run the world, is instilling in those minds the idea that women aren't worth bothering about-that they are homogeneous and not as interesting as men, and that men represent a much more important part of the population than do women.