Word: kurzman
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...Charles Kurzman's article of April 28th on "Rejuvenating Radcliffe" fails to recognize the important role that Radcliffe College plays for many women and men on campus, as well as its alumnae (note the plural feminine). First and foremost, I think that Mr. Kurzman misses the symbolic importance of maintaining Radcliffe the College. Demoting its status to a "Resource Center" would be to turn our backs on the history of women. True, the purpose of establishing Radcliffe was to provide women with a Harvard education, but along the way women discovered that that wasn't all they wanted or needed...
Much of Mr. Kurzman's article reflects a simple dearth of research. Suggesting that Radcliffe's primary event for its undergraduates was the Senior Soiree, "the stereotypical women's college event," merely illustrated the lack of contact that Mr. Kurzman has had with Radcliffe. Harvard and Radcliffe are both institutions that expect a certain amount of individual responsibility. Radcliffe does an extraordinary job of publicizing its resources through such publications as the Gonfalon, mailed free of charge to any undergraduate requesting...
...simply fails to recognize all that Radcliffe does using its own resources, and the extent to which we, as grown-up Harvard-Radcliffe students are individually responsible for employing the available resources. The Murray Research Center, the Bunting Institute, and above all, the Schlesinger Library do exactly what Mr. Kurzman suggests they fail to do: attract faculty and scholars. It is wrong to rest the onus of blame on the victim, for it is Harvard's unwillingness to acknowledge the legitimacy of Women's studies which is holding back the full potential of this discipline. Radcliffe handed over control...
Equally unrepresentative of the truth is Mr. Kurzman's claim that Radcliffe fails to support undergraduate extracurriculars. Radcliffe offers innumerable grants and invaluable information through its Office of the Dean (for research, special events, and athletics), the Josephine Murray Travelling Fellowships, Education for Action, the Office for the Arts, the Career Forums, and particularly The Radcliffe Union of Students. Perhaps Mr. Kurzman should spend a little more time reading the lists of sponsors for the happenings on campus and take into consideration the source of Radcliffe's funds. No tuition money goes into the resources which Radcliffe College makes available...
...fault, though, lies with a University that is unwilling to state publicly the extent of the problem. Several years ago, Harvard publicized a study which concluded in part that minority students were academic underachievers--Harvard would never, it seems, dare offend its athletes in a similar manner. Charles T. Kurzman...