The Trust evolved from what was formerly the Harvard College Women's Initiative. It has assumed the responsibility of funding student groups with an interest in women and gender.

With about $20,000 to dole out in grant money each year, the Trust is set to assume the former task of the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) to fund campus women's groups.

Under the auspices of Radcliffe College, RUS had collected $5 from every female undergraduate through a term bill fee and then used the funds to give grants to campus groups.

But the term bill fee was abolished along with Radcliffe College, and RUS has been forced to give up its funding role to the bigger and wealthier Trust.

The Trust meanwhile has spent the entire spring semester hammering out a procedure for grant giving and how future members of the student-Faculty committee will be selected.

A student-Faculty committee oversees the Trust. Karen E. Avery '87, assistant dean of Harvard College, serves as director of the group and Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68, sits on the student-Faculty committee.

The Trust is a sharp departure from the days when RUS's undergraduate leaders had sole discretion over the grant process.

RUS has not registered with Harvard College as a student group, and hence may forfeit a permanent slot on the Trust board. RUS has suffered from poor attendance at the group's meetings this year, though last year's president, Kathryn B. Clancy '01, has been elected to serve another year-long term.

Just as RUS no longer has undergraduates to govern, the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association (RCAA) has had to re-evaluate its mission now that women graduating from Harvard will no longer automatically become members of the organization.

The group is pondering a name change. It would become simply the Radcliffe Association, a move that requires a bylaw change, to be approved this week at RCAA's annual meeting.

And other Radcliffe traditions have had to transform in order to continue on at the post-merger Radcliffe.

Both men and women were invited to the Senior Soiree in Radcliffe Yard this spring, and for the first time, men attended the Strawberry Tea last week.

But what was traditionally the highlight of the Strawberry Tea--the awarding of the Jonathan Fay Prize--was conspicuously absent.

Dunn and Jeremy R. Knowles, dean of the Faculty, decided not to give the Fay Prize this year after its criteria and tradition of being awarded to only a woman raised eyebrows at Harvard College.

But Radcliffe did retain the right to give the Fay Prize, traditionally Radcliffe's highest honor for a graduating senior and will likely award the prize next year on the basis of academic merit--criteria in keeping with the Institute's intellectual mission.