Fly Grads Vote Tonight

The graduate board of the Fly Club is expected to end the club's 156-year old all-male tradition tonight by approving the undergraduates' proposal to admit women.

While some graduates may not personally feel women should be admitted to the club, they will probably defer to the undergraduates' wishes, said Evan W. Thomas Ill '73, a graduate member who has been asked by Fly Graduate President Eric Vogt '70 to speak on the club's behalf.

Unlike the undergraduates who voted 28-0 to admit women on September 26, the opinions of the graduate board members--who are the top governing officers of the Fly--vary widely, Thomas said.

"It's very important for the graduates to be on board, because they sustain the club financially," he said.

The graduates must give final approval to theplan to include women in the Fly Club--whichboasts graduates including former PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt '04, Sen. John D.Rockefeller IV '58 (D-W.Va.) and Mass. Gov.William F. Weld '66. The club would be the firstof Harvard's nine all-male final clubs to goco-ed.

Even as the graduates deliberate, a number offemale sophomores and juniors have already beennotified that they will be punched in theimmediate future.

"We feel we have to talk to women to find outwho's interested. It's not official, but it wouldbe foolish to not move forward at all and do itall in three or four days," said Fly PunchmasterWalter E.B. Sipe '95, who is in charge of theclub's fall membership drive.

Sipe said members are in the process ofdeciding which women to punch if the graduateboard gives its approval, since there are only afew days between the graduate board's meeting andthe start of the fall punch which begins Friday.

Fly President Scott B. Logan '94 said in aninterview he hopes the decision will be made intime to admit women to the fall punch, but it'spossible that instead of making an immediatedecision, the board may decide to poll the club's1,100 graduates.

The number of women punched would be up to themembers to decide, Sipe said.

"What the decision would mean is that it wouldbe a gender-blind punch. There's no stipulationthat women have to be punched, but I imagine thatsome members will punch women," he said.

Sipe said membership in the Radcliffe Union ofStudents and Women Appealing for Change, which hasbeen sponsoring a boycott of the clubs, would haveno bearing on whether a women would be punched. Itdefinitely "wouldn't be a detriment," he said

The graduates must give final approval to theplan to include women in the Fly Club--whichboasts graduates including former PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt '04, Sen. John D.Rockefeller IV '58 (D-W.Va.) and Mass. Gov.William F. Weld '66. The club would be the firstof Harvard's nine all-male final clubs to goco-ed.

Even as the graduates deliberate, a number offemale sophomores and juniors have already beennotified that they will be punched in theimmediate future.

"We feel we have to talk to women to find outwho's interested. It's not official, but it wouldbe foolish to not move forward at all and do itall in three or four days," said Fly PunchmasterWalter E.B. Sipe '95, who is in charge of theclub's fall membership drive.

Sipe said members are in the process ofdeciding which women to punch if the graduateboard gives its approval, since there are only afew days between the graduate board's meeting andthe start of the fall punch which begins Friday.

Fly President Scott B. Logan '94 said in aninterview he hopes the decision will be made intime to admit women to the fall punch, but it'spossible that instead of making an immediatedecision, the board may decide to poll the club's1,100 graduates.

The number of women punched would be up to themembers to decide, Sipe said.

"What the decision would mean is that it wouldbe a gender-blind punch. There's no stipulationthat women have to be punched, but I imagine thatsome members will punch women," he said.

Sipe said membership in the Radcliffe Union ofStudents and Women Appealing for Change, which hasbeen sponsoring a boycott of the clubs, would haveno bearing on whether a women would be punched. Itdefinitely "wouldn't be a detriment," he said