Transition to Co-Ed May Not Be Smooth

When Susan Buck joined the Tiger Inn eating club at Princeton a few years ago, she did so during the first year that the elite social group admitted women.

Buck, who graduated last spring, said she always felt comfortable at Tiger Inn--despite its single-sex tradition and resistance to going co-ed.

But she said the organization is still male-dominated in some respects, so much that the club has yet to elect a female as a high-ranking officer.

Now that one of Harvard's all-male final clubs--the Fly--needs only the approval of its graduate board before it admits women, some Harvard students are wondering whether a transition to co-ed clubs would be smooth or tumultuous.

"This is completely uncharted territory," a Fly member said last week after the members voted unanimously to admit women. He said if the club became co-ed the result "could be a fiasco."

According to members of the Princeton eating clubs Ivy and Tiger Inn, which decided to go co-ed in the face of a much-publicized lawsuit that ended in 1900, the integration of women into all-male organizations was not problematic--for the most part, at least.

Members of Tiger Inn said a few vestiges of male exclusivity linger, three years after it became the last of Princeton's 12 eating clubs to open its doors to women.

Amy Errington, a senior in Tiger Inn, said she feels very comfortable there. But, in general, she said "guys stick together and women stick together" in the officer selection process.

Errington estimated that the club is currently two-thirds male.

Buck said there is no women's shower at the club, although plans are being made to build one.

Sophie S. Glenn, a 1992 Princeton graduate who joined Ivy the year it went co-ed, said there have also been a few bumps in her club's transition.

During her first year in the club, she said there were a few male members whom she was "wary of encountering" because she knew they had opposed the admission of women.

Sometimes, she said, she would get the feeling from a club alumnus visiting Ivy that he wished it was still all-male.

Despite these problems, Glenn said she felt welcome in the club. She said many members at the time were ready to admit women--with or without a lawsuit.

And many members who opposed the change initially seemed happy to have women in the club once they were admitted, Glenn said.

Current Ivy member Nawaf S. Al-Sabah said females are now completely integrated into Ivy, and male members do not regret the change.

"What was remarkable, at least for my club, was the ease of the transition," he said. "I have not met anyone who expresses any sort of remorse for having admitted women."

Al-Sabah, a senior, said women currently makeup about 50 percent of Ivy's membership.

But one Princeton sophomore who frequents TigerInn and other eating clubs said a masculineatmosphere and an element of "machismo" stillprevail at club events.

"The eating clubs foster an environment moreconducive to male bonding than to inter-genderrelations," he said.

Buck said she agreed that there are still "maleovertones" at Tiger Inn but that females areincluded in all club activities--even those thatare "traditionally" male, she said, such asbeer-drinking.

She said, however, that when she first joinedthe club, some male members longed for the group'ssingle-sex days.

"I think people were happy but I think theywere also nostalgic," she said, adding that she"understood completely" why Tiger Inn's memberslooked a bit longingly toward the past.

Colin Rowan, the current Tiger Inn president,said the transition has gone smoothly and thatwomen are full-fledged members.

"Overall, I don't think [eating clubs] fostermale bonding, nor do they cater to males," hesaid

Al-Sabah, a senior, said women currently makeup about 50 percent of Ivy's membership.

But one Princeton sophomore who frequents TigerInn and other eating clubs said a masculineatmosphere and an element of "machismo" stillprevail at club events.

"The eating clubs foster an environment moreconducive to male bonding than to inter-genderrelations," he said.

Buck said she agreed that there are still "maleovertones" at Tiger Inn but that females areincluded in all club activities--even those thatare "traditionally" male, she said, such asbeer-drinking.

She said, however, that when she first joinedthe club, some male members longed for the group'ssingle-sex days.

"I think people were happy but I think theywere also nostalgic," she said, adding that she"understood completely" why Tiger Inn's memberslooked a bit longingly toward the past.

Colin Rowan, the current Tiger Inn president,said the transition has gone smoothly and thatwomen are full-fledged members.

"Overall, I don't think [eating clubs] fostermale bonding, nor do they cater to males," hesaid