Fighting for What?

Few places on this campus better represent the patrician ideals of Old Harvard than the final clubs. While most of us would like to dispel the image of Harvard as a stratified old-boy network, these stalwarts work to keep that image a reality.

So when we read the demands of Women Appealing for Change, a group organizing a boycott of the clubs, we were disappointed. While the group presses the final club to reverse its policy of gender discrimination, it ignores the inherent elitism of the system its members seek to join.

"We are denied the opportunity to meet with friends in an informal setting designed specifically for that purpose," reads the group's open letter to final club members. "Because we are denied membership, we are also denied access to the support of club alumni regarding career and employment opportunities." It goes on to outline further examples of oppression, such as lack of frontdoor access.

Women Appealing for Change sticks to a single issue: sexism. True, final clubs objectify women, allowing them into parties unconditionally but restricting them from membership and benefits. True, they are fodder for sexist comments and actions--recall the inflatable naked woman who was spotted last year on a final club door.

We commend the idea of opening single-sex institutions to all. But these women appealing for change don't seem to have a problem with the other kind of oppression the final clubs practice in abundance. A final club, no matter how many women are a part of it, exists so that its members don't have to deal with people unlike themselves.

The final clubs' "punch" process isn't random. These clubs remain an enclave of the rich, prep-schooled and well-connected, and they don't pretend otherwise. They exist to continue that social stratification; closing the doors to everyone but themselves and their wealthy alumni ensure that the ruling class continues to receive its undeserved perks.

Students who have attended public schools, who are working themselves through college, or who are simply not a part of that pre-existent network also tend to be "denied access to the support of club alumni." It's distressing that the women's open letter failed to address that issue.

Instead, Women Appealing for Change seem to be primarily concerned about being denied their "right" to exclude working-class students, poor students, and non-connected students from this "integral part of [Harvard's] social scene."

This particular boycott of final clubs isn't, as some believe, the first step to eliminating the clubs completely. Because its supporters don't see anything wrong with the clubs' inherent elitism. Once they achieve their goal, it's unlikely that they'll push any further. Those who are left fighting classism will face a much tougher battle. If the boycott achieves its goals, privileged women will join privileged men as systematized elitists--a dubious achievement.