Antonia H. Chayes has resigned as dean of Tufts University's Jackson College to dramatize her impatience with the speed with which Tufts and the female college are merging.

Mrs. Chayes, wife of Abtam Chayes '43, professor of Law, said that the continued male-female separation of Tufts and Jackson "is absurd." Maintaining Jackson College as a separate school is an "administrative fiction," she explained. As a Jackson administrator there just "wasn't that much to do." she added.

The two institutions have been slowly metging over the past several years but "the university administration refused to complete the merger within the next year," she said. "I hope that my resignation will bring the issue to the point of debate."

Mrs. Chayes also expressed frustration about the lack of university support for her plans to begin a continuing education center for women and provide day-care facilities for their children.

Mrs. Chayes's resignation will become effective in July, but she will continue to teach a course in urban studies.