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Panic fluttered through the hearts of Radcliffe and Beacon Street debbies last night. It came with the news that a society of women-haters has claimed a large membership among Harvard students.
Bulletins flooding in through the evening presented many contradictory accounts of the by-laws of the organization, known as the Celibates Society. First denying, then admitting under pressure that he had been elected president, John R. Hearn '39 gave the following statement to the press.
"I don't want to involve any of the other members. We believe that the movies are fine amusement, without that possibility of feminine involvement which has such a detrimental effect on college men, who go from one affair to another. We're not interested in the equal-rights-for-women question. And furthermore, I haven't any ideas on two-piece bathing suits." After denying that he had ever seen Deanna Durbin, Hearn hung up.
Jilt After Jilt
Irving B. Rosenberg '39, treasurer of the club, declared that cheap publicity was anathema to the secretive group. The whole concept, according to him, grew first as a joke when one boy was jilted, but increasing fatalities due to summer romances made the club a serious undertaking.
Dancing is forbidden, as is the company of women; only mothers and sisters are tolerated. "But the vows are in no way permanent," said Rosenberg, "they are just for the present." Frankly as an experiment, the members have considered forming a summer camp far from the influence of feminine foibles. "We have no motto, nothing as silly as that," went on Rosenberg, "and no vows of chastity."
Secretary Ira Chart '37, graduate student of Romance Philology, was much more explicit than the other members of the triumvirate. According to him, the club now has 25 members, and is strengthening itself with new and "serious" devotees. "It is virtually a discussion group," confided Chart, "we often meet at my house and talk quite intimately."
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