However, Lewis announced earlier this week that next year he plans to launch a type of mentoring program for women in science. The program will be organized through science-based academic departments.

Yet despite the clarity with which Lewis cites College policy, some students say applications of the rule aren't always as transparent.

A committee--chaired by Lewis--will award the Paul Revere Frothingham Prize today to a graduating senior. One of the criteria for the prize is that the recipient embodies the quality of "manliness."

Such irony is not lost on Acting Dean of the Institute Mary Maples Dunn, who at last week's Strawberry Tea made a not-so-veiled reference to "womanliness." Dunn declined to award Radcliffe's annual Fay Prize this year, traditionally its highest honor for a graduating woman, because she feared there would not be enough time before graduation to ensure that the prize complied with Harvard's non-discrimination policy.

But with characteristic concern for the rules, Lewis says he had to give the Frothingham this year in accordance with the donor's terms, or else the College might be sued for going against the donor's wishes.

Harvard's lawyers, however, have told The Crimson that such a lawsuit is extremely unlikely.

And Lewis told The Crimson earlier this week that next year, all Harvard College non-athletic prizes and fellowships will be available to men and women without gender restriction.

"This covers not only the

Frothingham prize, but other prizes and fellowships as well, including the

Shaw travelling fellowships," Lewis writes in an e-mail message.

But for this year, despite the prevailing legal constraints, students were often confused by Lewis's actions.

"I think that they should have given the Fay prize this year. With the [Frothingham] if feels like a double standard," says Tea attendee Gisela I. Mohring '00.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Feminist groups' leaders and Radcliffe College alumnae point to specific examples of Lewis' actions which, for them, indicate that Lewis is not responsive to their concerns.

For instance, Lewis's comments at a luncheon last year upset many alumnae.

Lewis was seated at a table with students and several historians at the first annual Gender at the Gates Conference--an event organized by Phillips Professor of Early American History Laurel Thatcher Ulrich to examine the history of women at Harvard.