Mission Statement

The Committee for the Equality of Women at Harvard, founded in 1988 by a group of concerned Radcliffe alumnae, is a tax-exempt organization with a membership of nearly 2000 alumnae/i and friends.

Goals

l. A significant increase in the numbers of tenured women faculty

In AY2011, 22.0% of the tenured faculty at Harvard University (excluding the medical school) (233 out of 1059) were women, up from 21.7% (220 out of 1012) in AY2010. In the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), 23.0% (114 out of 491) were women, the same as in AY2010, 23.0% (112 out of 484). The percentage of senior women continued to vary widely across the Schools and FAS Divisions. See www.faculty.harvard.edu "About this Office", FD&D Annual Reports.)

II. Equity for all women at Harvard

a) The University must exercise its responsibility in ensuring that curriculum content, teaching in all respects, and social climate are equally inclusive for men and women. This requires that all institutional components:

b) Achievements or shortfalls in creating greater equity for women should be monitored regularly and reported on annually in connection with fundraising campaigns and the setting of priorities. For complete Mission Statement

Steering Committee

Gabriella Schlesinger, Ph.D., Committee Co-Chair
Acey Welch, Committee Co-Chair
Joan Baer, Committee Vice-Chair and Outreach Chair
Elisabeth Hatfield, Treasurer
Cornelia Dimmitt, Ph.D., Peggy Schmertzler, Ann Shapiro, Ph.D., Faculty Liaison
Gabriella Schlesinger, Ph.D., Eleanor Williams, Sunny Yando, Ph.D., Student Liaison
Lilli Hornig, Ph.D., Research and Policy Analysis Consultant
Jane O'Reilly, Publicity Consultant
Deborah Socolar, Phoebe Telser, Jocelyn Walker, Acey Welch Communications

History
Origins 1988-1993

An Ad Hoc Committee to explore gender equity issues at Harvard was formed by members of the Radcliffe Class of 1953 at their 35th Reunion. The charge to the Committee was to study two questions and report back to the class in 1993.

The Committee interviewed selected senior and junior Harvard faculty, Harvard and Radcliffe administrators, students and alumni/ae; identified and studied Harvard and Radcliffe reports on the institutions and their student organizations and contributed to and participated in a 1990 Radcliffe College Focus Group, "A Survey of Alumnae and Undergraduate Perceptions."

It found that:

The Committee defined the goals, articulated the rationale and specified steps to begin constructive change. We were told by presidents of both Harvard and Radcliffe that everything that could be done was being done.

Unable to initiate a dialogue with the Colleges, the Committee sent a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe which was published in May 1993.

Then the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) granted the Committee a half-hour interview. We were told by the Dean that everything that could be done was being done.

At their 40th reunion the Radcliffe Class of 1953 voted unanimously to take further action and members of the Class of 1958 joined. The Committee for the Equality of Women at Harvard (CEWH) was formed and the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association (RCAA) was urged to join in the mission to bring equality to women at Harvard.

Action 1993-Present

First Steps

CEWH became an institution. It developed a logo, stationery, business cards and a brochure. It incorporated as a Massachusetts not-for-profit corporation and became a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. CEWH decided that its major effort should be to increase the number and proportion of tenured women faculty.

CEWH raised consciousness and money by mailings, ads, interviews and coalition building with Radcliffe College and the RCAA. It gained a thousand members, including alumnae/i from 1931 to the present, parents and friends, and raised enough money to support operations. It initiated and contributed to the Bunting Faculty Fellowship for Harvard junior women faculty. It started a dialogue with current students.

CEWH assisted student committees including the Women and Minority Faculty Tenure Committee in its December 1994 presentation on Harvard's tenure process.

CEWH tried to initiate a dialogue with Harvard. It issued reports on the Status of Women at Harvard in 1994 and 1995 asking President Rudenstine to use the full power of his office to create equality for women at Harvard. In letters of thanks and meetings with deans we were told that alumnae should not be involved in the internal affairs of the University, that they do not understand the process of choosing tenured faculty and that everything that could be done was being done.

Stepping Up The Pressure

Unable to initiate a dialogue with Harvard, in November 1994, CEWH established the Harvard Women Faculty Fund to raise money to be held in escrow until Harvard improved the status of women and made changes in the process of hiring tenured faculty which had been recommended by its own faculty committee. The Harvard Women Faculty Fund is a clear expression of an abiding commitment to creating equality for women at Harvard.

CEWH informed President Rudenstine of the escrow account. Three days later CEWH distributed a national press release.

Local and national press responded (See Home Page, Press Coverage). An Assistant Dean to the Harvard Provost was assigned to meet with CEWH. She said that everything that could be done was being done.

Many recommendations in Harvard's own reports on the status of women had not been implemented. The annual rate of increase in tenured women faculty was still less than 0.5%. CEWH was still unable to initiate a dialogue with Harvard.

CEWH expanded its contact with students and in October 1996 presented a faculty/student panel on "Choosing to Lead: the Equality of Women at Harvard." The topics included the dearth of tenured female faculty, the importance of mentoring for both students and junior faculty, and the benefits of opening channels between students and alumnae/i.

A Dialogue Begins

When CEWH delivered Veritas, its 1996 Report on the Status of Women at Harvard, to President Rudenstine it again asked him to use the full power of the Presidency to lead the University to proclaim that women's equality is an institutional priority and to implement an effective agenda for action throughout the University (See Home Page, Committee Reports.)

President Rudenstine designated an Assistant Dean of FAS, to meet with the Committee. She listened and responded constructively. A dialogue opened.

In February 1997 President Rudenstine sent CEWH a thoughtful and supportive letter. He said,

"There is nothing I regard as more important to Harvard's future excellence than sustaining and enhancing the quality of appointments to the tenured faculty and achieving that objective will depend in considerable degree on our success in appointing greater numbers of outstanding women scholars and teachers to tenured positions across the University"

He described a concrete plan to improve the position of women at Harvard that included many of the processes and actions that the CEWH had urged when it established the escrow account. But he did not set a time frame for implementation.

CEWH again urged Harvard to move from words to deeds and requested its president to do these things:

In response, President Rudenstine said that Provost Fineberg was willing to meet with CEWH. But he continued to admonish that using fundraising as a way to influence the outcomes of the faculty appointment process "violates one of the central rules of University life".

CEWH disagreed. It believed that using fundraising to promote the process and policies of a university that its own faculty and president had supported was a valuable and honored rule of University life. CEWH continued to believe that the Harvard Women Faculty Fund was the clearest expression we could give to our abiding commitment to creating effective policies to achieve equality for women at Harvard.

Since 1998, CEWH has held informational meetings for alumnae at reunion on CEWH goals and activities. In 1999 and 2000, CEWH collected approximately 1000 signatures on a petition to President Rudenstine, asking the university to conduct a self-study similar to that of MIT, exploring and rectifying gender inequities. The reply was typical. "Due to the university" great diversity, such a study is not appropriate at Harvard.

In November 1998 CEWH initiated and developed a national invitational conference on Women in Research Universities held at Harvard and Radcliffe, chaired by committee member Lilli S. Hornig. The conference addressed the institutional factors that continue to limit women's achievements and showcased model efforts to improve the climate for advancement. The conference proceedings book, " Equal Rites, Unequal Outcomes: Women in American Research Universities", edited by Lilli S. Hornig, Ph.D., is now available on Amazon (www.amazon.com).

Meanwhile, everything that could be done has not been done.

The Dialog Continues

As the 21st century began with the new adminstration at Harvard, CEWH met with Acting Dean Dunn and Dean Faust. In particular, CEWH was impressed with Dean Faust's interest in improving the climate for women faculty at Harvard within her purview at the Institute. At the Radcliffe Association Alumnae Luncheon, June 9, 2000, CEWH announced that ". . .after a meeting with two extraordinary women--Drew Faust and Mary Dunn--we unanimously agreed to donate $100,000 (the escrow account) in seed money to initiate the creation of an endowment fund for a tenured chair that will provide a joint appointment in the Radcliffe Institute and the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)." There was an over subscription of $300,000 which was used to initiate funding for a Radcliffe Alumnae Fellowship to help advance the career of a junior faculty member of FAS. In September 2005, Carolyn Abbate will join the Harvard FAS as a tenured professor of music and the first Radcliffe Alumnae Professor.

In October 2001 CEWH sent an email letter to Harvard Women Faculty asking what they considered to be the three most important issues facing women faculty at Harvard CEWH Faculty Survey .

In the spring of 2002, CEWH supported the student protest to the change adopted by the faculty concerning the policy for hearing charges of sexual assault. In response to these concerns, Harvard formed a committee to study the issues. The committee report is now available http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~casah/ .

Following the news of the Core Curriculum Review in the spring of 2003, CEWH sent recommendations to Provost Hyman and Dean Kirby in an essay by Sue Williamson, Ph.D. entitled "The New Curriculum". Dean Kirby indicated he would use the document for discussion in the curriculum review The New Curriculum .

Also in June 2003, CEWH submitted its report "Veritas Continued" to the Harvard administration. President Summers said he would read it with interest (See Home Page, Committee Reports.)

In response to disturbing news of a precipitous decline in tenure offers to women faculty (FAS), CEWH wrote letters to President Summers, Dean Kirby and the Board of Overseers voicing concern and restating our belief in the need for a comprehensive self-study. Several months elapsed before we received replies from the president and dean which shared our concern and reiterated everything that can be done, is being done

In response to the Task Forces Reports, CEWH submitted a detailed commentary to the chairs of the Task Forces.

CEWH sent a letter citing the reports issued by FAS over the past 35 years and their recommendations requesting that Harvard implement measures which would improve progress for women at the University to the Harvard Presidential Search Committee.

In May of 2008, our proposal to initially fund a Women Faculty Mentoring Project under the aegis of the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity was formally accepted. The project is part of a greater mentoring program undertaken by the Office and includes a series of seminars on matters of common concern to the tenure-track women university-wide. Our sponsorship of this project was made possible by the generous financial support of our CEWH constituency.

At the Radcliffe Alumnae Luncheon in June, Dean Barbara Grosz announced that the Radcliffe Alumnae Fellowship is now fully endowed. This Fellowship was initiated in 2003 upon the oversubscription for the Radcliffe Alumnae Professorship and will provide a tenure-track Harvard (woman) faculty member of the FAS time for leading research and scholarship in preparation for applying for tenure. In a way, then, this is a continuation of one of our first efforts, the Bunting Junior Faculty Fellowship established by CEWH, the RCAA, and Radcliffe College in 1993.

We maintain a close connection with the Harvard College Women's Center, especially in suport of their expansion of leadership development programs for undergraduate women.

With these recent developments, the eighteen-member CEWH Steering Committee concluded that we now best serve by stepping to the sidelines and mindfully watching. We intend to remain abreast of women's issues and to react if circumstances warrant. We are not shuttering our operations.


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The Committee for the Equality of Women at Harvard
553 Old Road to Nine Acre Corner, Concord, MA 01742

E-mail: cewh@world.std.com

URL: http://world.std.com/~cewh/
April 2012