Members of single-gender social clubs at Harvard University will be banned from holding leadership positions in official campus organizations or on sports teams beginning in the fall of 2017, the university announced Friday.
Harvard’s president, Drew Gilpin Faust, the first woman to hold the position, wrote a letter to the university describing the changes:
“Culture change is not easy, and members of our community will inevitably disagree about how to move forward. … But we have as our touchstone an educational experience in which students of all backgrounds come together, learn from each other, and enjoy the transformational possibilities presented by sustained exposure to difference. By reinforcing core principles of non-discrimination and inclusion, the recommendations of the college represent an important next step in our ongoing progress toward that goal.”
Ms. Faust noted that she agreed with a recommendation that, “at this time, the college should not adopt a rule prohibiting students from joining unrecognized social organizations that retain discriminatory membership policies,” saying that students would decide themselves whether to do so.
The sanctions will apply to Greek life and the unofficial social organizations known as final clubs. The clubs have been present at Harvard for more than a century, but they have long faced criticism as havens of male privilege. That scrutiny intensified in March, when a university task forced released a report that called out the clubs for fostering a misogynistic culture that contributed to the problem of sexual assault. Two of the clubs at Harvard have opened their memberships to women, as similar organizations at other Ivy League colleges did during the 1990s.
“Although the fraternities, sororities, and final clubs are not formally recognized by the college, they play an unmistakable and growing role in student life, in many cases enacting forms of privilege and exclusion at odds with our deepest values,” Ms. Faust wrote in her letter.
The administration has pressured the clubs to accept women, according to the Associated Press, but some of them have resisted the idea. About a month ago, in a rare statement, Charles M. Storey, graduate-board president of Harvard’s oldest final club, the Porcellian Club, told The Harvard Crimson that “forcing single-gender organizations to accept members of the opposite sex could potentially increase, not decrease, the potential for sexual misconduct.”
Mr. Storey later apologized and resigned his post with the club after his remarks sparked a heavy backlash.
Friday’s announcement drew mixed reactions on social media:
Harvard is removing privileged paths to leadership by saying you can only be a leader if you join their approved path? Gotcha.
— Matt Baker (@heyitsmattbaker) May 6, 2016
Disappointed in #Harvard admin. Desire to create more safe spaces motivated clubs ruling, but banning sororities has exact opposite effect.
— Simon Thompson (@simonmthompson) May 6, 2016
It’s about time. All Boyz clubs are so declasse...
(Article) HARVARD SEEMS poised to take a major step toward... https://t.co/m5PqL3YWHv
— Heather Kimbrough (@CalGeekGrl) April 23, 2016
@azbrodsky I was in a sorority there & liked it. But I support decision and don’t see how it could work w/out sanctioning women’s orgs too
— Laura Hazard Owen (@laurahazardowen) May 6, 2016
According to the Crimson, a not-yet-formed committee of students, faculty members, and administrators will be charged with creating an enforcement strategy for the proposal.
