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Can you get a clue, at long last? "In the late 1980s, a group of Harvard womendecided they wanted a female version of the all-male final clubs already on campus ... and the 14 founding members adopted the name "the Bee."
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All-female clubs:<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20141228003717/http://www.thecrimson.com/series/the-punch/article/2010/10/7/club-founded-crimson-date/?page=single</ref>
All-female clubs:<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20141228003717/http://www.thecrimson.com/series/the-punch/article/2010/10/7/club-founded-crimson-date/?page=single</ref>
*Bee Club (founded 1991){{refn|[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/10/10/female-final-clubs-a-retrospection/]}}{{refn|[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1992/2/12/bee-expands-membership-pthe-bee-an/]}}
*Bee Club (founded 1991){{refn|[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/10/10/female-final-clubs-a-retrospection/]}}{{refn|[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1992/2/12/bee-expands-membership-pthe-bee-an/]}}{{refn|[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1998/2/17/the-bee-a-club-of-their/]}}
*Isis Club (2000)
*Isis Club (2000)
*Pleiades Society (2002)
*Pleiades Society (2002)

Revision as of 15:09, 11 May 2016

A number of social clubs exist at Harvard College which are unrecognized by Harvard itself. The oldest and most prominent of these are the traditionally all-male, and exclusive, final clubs. More recently, all-female clubs, and fraternities and sororities along the lines of similar organizations found at many colleges and universities, have appeared as well.

While a small number of these organizations have begun to admit both sexes, most do not – the reason, in general, that Harvard College refuses to recognize them. Recently, in an effort to marginalize organizations that "contribute to a social life and a student culture that for many on our campus is disempowering and exclusionary", Harvard has decided that students who join unrecognized single-sex organizations will be barred from campus leadership positions and from receiving certain types of recommendation letters from Harvard.

Origins

The historical basis for the name "final clubs" descends from a time when Harvard had a variety of clubs for students of each class year, with students of different years being in different clubs, and the "final clubs" were so named because they were the last social club a person could join before graduation. Many of the clubs were founded in the 19th century after Harvard banned traditional fraternities in the 1850s.

The clubs

All-male fraternities:[6]

All-female sororities:[7]

There are also other social organizations not recognized by Harvard University, including the Oak Club, that do not own property but regularly hold social events.

History

The Harvard men's final clubs trace their roots to the late 18th century, while the five all-female social clubs were founded more recently. Another women's organization, the Seneca, distinguishes itself as a "501(c)(3) nonprofit women's organization that is often misidentified as a final club." Several other clubs are also 501(c)(3) organizations and engage in some community service. The Bee was founded in 1991; The Seneca in 1999; Isis in 2000; Pleiades in 2002; Sabliere in 2002; and La Vie in 2008.[8]

(The co-ed Signet Society, The Harvard Crimson, Harvard Advocate and Harvard Lampoon also have selective membership, but their charters define them as something other than social organizations, based on their literary or artistic characteristics.)

Eight of the male clubs own real estate in Harvard Square. Clubhouses usually include dining halls, libraries, and game rooms. Most are staffed with chefs, stewards, and other paid personnel. Most serve lunch and dinner meals at regular schedules. The Delphic Club boasts a regulation-size squash court.[9]

The Bee Club rents space from the Fly Club at 45 Dunster Street in a building that was previously the D.U. Club (the "Duck") before the D.U. Club's graduate membership merged with the Fly in 1996. In a controversial move, the Fly did not allow former D.U. undergraduate members to integrate,[10] and subsequently the undergraduate D.U. membership formed The Oak Club. La Vie Club rents a colonial style house on Garden Street. The Isis rents a portion of The Owl's premises. The Sabliere Society recently obtained property in the Square. The Pleiades Society recently obtained an apartment on Waterhouse Street.[11]

In 1984, as required by Title IX legislation, the clubs opted to become fully independent, and since then have maintained themselves beyond university regulation. The clubs own real estate property in Cambridge, collectively assessed at over $17 million as of 2006.

Years ago Harvard College freshmen could join a freshman club, then a "waiting club," and finally a "final club." Of the final clubs still in existence, only the P.C. and the Fox were initially founded as final clubs. The Phoenix SK is the amalgam of three separate clubs: the Phoenix, the Sphinx, and the Kalumet. The Iroquois Club built the edifice now owned by the Office for the Arts at Harvard, at 74 Mount Auburn Street. Their dance studio is the former Iroquois dining hall. The original Pi Eta Club built the structure now occupied by Upstairs On The Square, and Grendel's Den.

Controversy

Harvard severed ties will final clubs in 1985 because of their refusal to admit women.[12]

During the 2006 Senate hearings on the nomination of Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court, Senator Edward Kennedy was among those highlighting Alito's membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which had opposed admission of women into Princeton; when Kennedy's membership in the Owl Club was pointed out, Kennedy resigned from the club.[citation needed] That same year, Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick's membership in the Fly Club was criticized as contradictory to his image as a champion of civil rights. Patrick responded that he had left the club in the early 1980s for that reason.[13]

In the fall of 2015, Harvard President Drew Faust criticized the clubs for their "alleged gender exclusivity and the potential for alcohol abuse and sexual assault on the off-campus properties.[14] The Spee Club began admitting women in later 2015,[15] and the Fox Club followed suit but was soon temporarily shut down as graduate board members sought to re-evaluate what it meant to be a "member of the Fox". The other seven clubs remain all-male but have partnered with the female final clubs.[citation needed]

In an effort to marginalize organizations that "contribute to a social life and a student culture that for many on our campus is disempowering and exclusionary",[16] students entering in the fall of 2017 or later who join unrecognized single-sex organizations (such as single-sex final clubs, fraternities, and sororities) will be barred from campus leadership positions such as team captaincies, and from receiving recommendation letters from Harvard requisite for scholarships and fellowships.[12] At least one club has protested that the new rule infringes students' right of free association.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20141228003717/http://www.thecrimson.com/series/the-punch/article/2010/10/7/club-founded-crimson-date/?page=single
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20141227005519/http://www.thecrimson.com/series/the-punch/article/2010/10/5/series-men-final-clubs/?page=single
  6. ^ https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/hear-our-students/student-blog/tbt-going-greek
  7. ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/4/3/fourth-sorority-added-panhellenic/
  8. ^ "LA VIE CLUB INCORPORATED Summary Screen", 2008, The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts, William Francis Galvin, Secretary Of The Commonwealth, Corporations Division
  9. ^ Beam, Alex, "Harvard's Vanishing Squash Courts", Vanity Fair, May 20, 2009
  10. ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1996/2/12/du-fly-clubs-agree-to-merge/M/
  11. ^ Cambridge Historical Commission, "City of Cambridge, Landmarks and Other Protected Properties", 2009.
  12. ^ a b c Stephanie Saul. (2016) Harvard Restrictions Could Reshape Exclusive Student Clubs The New York Times, May 6, 2016
  13. ^ "Patrick says he quit The Fly Club in 1983 - The Boston Globe". Boston.com. 2006-08-03. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
  14. ^ "Divided Fox Club Opens With New Policies | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  15. ^ "In Historic Move, Spee Club Invites Women To Punch | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  16. ^ Khurana, Rakesh. "Letter concerning membership in unrecognized single-gender social organizations" (PDF).

Further reading

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