Bunting Endorses Equal Access Plan

Mary I. Bunting, former President of Radcliffe, said yesterday that the University's plan to merge Harvard and Radcliffe's admission offices shows "real leadership in the field" of equal male-female access to educational institutions.

Pleased About Report

"I'm very pleased about the Strauch Report," she said, adding that she likes its emphasis on "working to build a large pool of qualified applicants."

Bunting said she wore a white armband at the last commencement she attended here to signify her support for equal access, which, she said, was one of the things she had hope for most while she was here.

Bunting, who left Radcliffe in 1972 to become an assistant to the president of Princeton, was in Cambridge for the annual meeting of the fellows of the Radcliffe Institute, an organization which she helped start 15 years ago.

Although she said she thought that women at Princeton had had a "tough time" the first year the school admitted women. Bunting said she felt that their life is much easier now.

From Scratch

"Princeton had to start from scratch, and they decided that if they were going to go co-ed they were going to do it right," she said.

Bunting said she is working on a variety of projects at Princeton, but spends most of her time working on development of continuing education programs.

In addition to the founding of the Radcliffe Institute, one of Bunting's main projects during her 12 years here was the initial work on a Harvard-Radcliffe merger.

Working Together

"To the extent that they were separate institutions, it was easy for Harvard to expect Radcliffe to do things it didn't want to, and for Radcliffe to expect Harvard to do things in return, but I have the impression now that everyone is working together," Bunting said.

"The administration's attitude now seems to be more that since the students are here, what can we do for them?" she said.

Jane R. Cohen '64, a fellow of the Radcliffe Institute, described last night's meeting as "an informal reunion" of the fellows honoring the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of the institute.