Despite his approval of the compromise, Harvard Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 says he has a "real concern" that some Radcliffe alumnae might feel isolated from Harvard without fundraising solicitations.

"It is a point that Harvard gave on," says one source close to the negotiations. "Harvard evidently hopes that Radcliffe will quickly see that they will do better if they join with FAS [the Faculty of Arts and Sciences] and send joint letters. Time will cure this."

Dunn says she does not anticipate inviting Harvard to hit up Radcliffe alumnae for money during her tenure, but when a permanent dean is chosen, the choice to continue the arrangement will fall to her shoulders.

Administrators agree the bulk of the summer was spent examining Radcliffe's finances, as part of a routine process of due diligence involved in mergers.

Lawyers, including University General Counsel Anne Taylor, had to examine the terms of every one of Radcliffe's more than 800 individual restricted endowment accounts.

The legal terms of some endowments, traditionally used for undergraduate financial aid, offered more than one interpretation of the donor's original intent.

In many cases, donors had simply stated that their dollars benefit women at Radcliffe. With the impending merger, negotiators were left to puzzle out whether donors would rather fund undergraduate women at Harvard or the new Radcliffe Institute.