With Radcliffe Gone, Where Does Campus Feminism Go?

At Harvard, women sit in the same classrooms as men, live in the same Houses and, at least according to the administration, have an equal shot at tapping into Harvard's abundant resources.

Or do they? Many women on campus question whether, despite the apparent equality, they have the same opportunities as their male colleagues and friends.. Today's problems, they say, may be less visible than the outward discrimination earlier in the century, but they are just as inhibiting and repressive.

The bra-burning, placard-carrying image of feminism may no longer be accurate, but women say activism, perhaps of a different sort, is still needed.

"I came to realize that Harvard was also a white, male institution like any other," says Sophia Chang '01, who is the former co-chair of Girlspot, a group for campus lesbians, bisexuals and questioning women. "In fact, this is the belly of the beast. If there's any place to be this is it. If you're fighting the beast, stay in the belly, find out where it goes."

Women's groups at Harvard have mobilized and united in recent months as several large issues played themselves out on campus. On Oct. 1, Radcliffe College merged with Harvard and lost its status as an independent college. Last spring the Faculty voted to dismiss two male undergraduates who had been convicted in the courts of sexual assault.

These two issues galvanized the campus to action--at least for a couple months. But some of the most vocal activists on campus say they feel the majority of the student body is largely apathetic about women's issues.

At Harvard Today

While most Harvard undergraduates say the feminist movement has been beneficial to the advancement of women, few have actively aligned themselves with the movement on campus.

"I think there is a strong feminist presence on campus that doesn't necessarily make itself known," says Shauna L. Shames '01, a member of the Coalition Against Sexual Violence and an advocate for the creation of a women's center at Harvard.

A core group of students on campus have set out to counteract what they see as difficulties facing women at Harvard. The Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS), the Women's Leadership Project (WLP) and the Coalition Against Sexual Violence have been some of the most vocal supporters of women's issues.

Campus women's groups have joined together this winter to write a Women's Guide to Harvard that will include information about women's resources--both academic and extra-curricular. It will be modeled in format after the Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard, a book that is distributed to every first year.

Kamil E. Redmond '00, the former undergraduate council vice-president who is spearheading the effort with Peggy T. Lim '00, says the editors hope to have the guide put together in time to mail to all incoming female first-years.

"There will be copies available for men too if they want them," she adds.

And after the demise of Radcliffe, women say they need a space on campus to call their own.

Women can no longer use the Lyman Common Room in Agassiz House, a space that was used in the past as an area to hold meetings, gather with friends and generally discuss women's issues.

"Radcliffe is over, throw us a bone," Redmond says.

Over the last year, there has been a large push from women's groups and from the council to create a women's center where groups could congregate, distribute informative literature, gather with other women and perhaps stay at night if they don't feel comfortable returning to their rooms.

But space is a rare commodity at Harvard, and there is little consensus about where the women's center would be located. Kate B. Clancy '01 suggests the middle of the Yard.

" I'd put it in the middle of the Yard so that people walking by it everyday would know that Harvard is actively interested in women," Clancy says.

Yet, the women's center seems an unlikely possibility. College administrators have been reluctant to endorse the idea for a center that would only serve females.

While the Faculty prepared to vote last spring on the dismissal of two students who were convicted of rape, much of the campus was abuzz about the threat of sexual violence at Harvard.

Many activists say they still do not feel the campus is safe, and they urge the administration to take sexual violence seriously.

"I've become much more involved this year after the high profile campus rapes," says David B. Orr '01, a member of the council who has sponsored several bills dealing with gender issues. "I was amazed no one was dealing with women's issues."

He adds, "Part of the issue of sexual violence is that the students at the University don't appreciate the size of the problem."

Still Relevant?

Even as activists on campus unite in their feminist cause, some question whether the movement is still necessary today--both at Harvard and in society at large--at a time when women have gained so many opportunities.

"Feminism today is absolutely important, as most women's issues effect everyone, as they involve

equality, fairness, and family," Orr says. "But it's also important to recognize the progress that's been made."

The majority of students believe that the feminist movement was beneficial to the advancement of women. The Crimson's poll showed that 65 percent of those questioned agree that feminism has been good for the advancement of women, and only 8 percent disagree or strongly disagree.

But many worry that students think feminism is only a thing of the past.

"'Feminism is dead,' say leaders. But I'm saying gender is relevant," Redmond says. "There is an active need here. As a society we are becoming increasingly stagnant."

United Front

Feminism has always conjured up different images in the minds of different people--from the early century suffragists picketing for women's right to vote to the Gloria Steinem supporters of the 1970's.

And Harvard, in its range of feminist perspectives, is no different.

Some groups, like the WLP, discuss issues that will face women in the corporate world as they try to balance professional with more traditional, family-centered, desires.

"I think the work-family/traditional-professional issue is one that may face many women on an almost daily basis once they leave Harvard," Lim wrote in an e-mail message.

And other campus feminists choose to tackle issues of female sexuality and social construction of gender roles.

But when it comes to pegging the big campus issues--like the Radcliffe merger and problems of sexual violence--women's groups usually find themselves in agreement.

"The two biggest issues, which most others agree, are sexual assault and the demise of Radcliffe," Orr says.

Similarly, on the scene of national politics, many feminists align themselves with the Democratic party.

But as feminist doctrine becomes more mainstream--most take it as a given that men and women should be treated equally--definitions of a particular party being pro-feminist have blurred.

Clancy says that President Clinton has alienated her. "I hate Bill Clinton, and I know a lot of feminists like him," she says. "So right now I'm anti-Gore, trying to see if he's distancing himself from Clinton."

Orr says he thinks many feminists come from a liberal background, or eventually gravitate towards liberal politics, because the left side of politics tends to be more vocal about what it wants.

"It tends to be liberals who are willing to speak out," he says. "It's not that conservatives think rape is a good thing, or isn't a problem, but liberals are ready to say 'we need more services, for women.'"

What the Future Holds

Twenty seven years after the United States Supreme Court's ruling on Roe vs. Wade--at a time when women can play professional sports and hurdle through outer space as astronauts--the brand of contemporary feminism that took shape during the 1960's and 1970's may seem like a thing of the past.

But it has only been several months since Radcliffe has officially withdrawn its influence from undergraduate life at Harvard, and absolute equality, in both academic and social settings, women say, is still a thing of the future.

And as long as students think there are gender issues left to be tackled, and everyday difficulties left to surmount, feminist ideology will continue to play an important role in campus activity.