A Little Late...

IT WAS A LONG TIME COMING, but Harvard finally has embraced Women's Studies. After resisting the move for years, the University has approved a degree-granting program in an exciting new discipline that has made its mark on the academic world in its brief history outside Harvard.

Like the other selective honors-only programs, Women's Studies will have to share its faculty with the departments. Getting off the ground will undoubtedly prove difficult. Nonetheless, the commitment of the scholars and students who propelled the fledging program into existence seems more than enough to ensure that Harvard's newest concentration will soon be able to match those of other top universities.

Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield tried to turn back progress at last week's faculty meeting. In the ballot to make Women's Studies a degree-granting program, Mansfield cast the lone dissenting vote of the entire Faculty of Arts and Science. The lack of any more organized opposition in the sometimes fractious faculty demonstrates how far Women's Studies has come as an academic field beyond the walls of the Yard. Now it's finally time for the discipline to continue its advances within them.