Harvard 'Aggressively' Seeking Undergrads, Younger Members

So you say you'd like to be member of a Harvard alumni club?

You don't even have to have graduated yet. Some Harvard alumni clubs say they accept undergraduates as members.

"We encourage younger members to join because they are an even closer link to the University," says Andrew H. Marks '73, president of the Harvard Club of Washington, D.C. "They bring their vitality and energy to the club, and ultimately they provide our leadership."

"We are aggressively seeking members now," he adds.

Despite bargain memberships that clubs offer students and recent graduates, presidents of many of the nation's 100 Harvard alumni clubs say they have had difficulties recruiting younger members.

Only slightly more than 20 percent of club members have graduated within 10 years, says Carrie McDougall, the senior assistant director for clubs of the Harvard Alumni Association.

McDougall, who oversees the clubs for the association, says Harvard's enrollments are comparable with clubs from other schools, but that she would like to see those numbers increase.

"Our number of recent graduate [members] is as good if not better than other groups' [numbers]," McDougall says.

"That's not to say that's great," she adds. "We want to get more people involved."

McDougall says Harvard had about 160 alumni clubs world-wide, 100 around the nation. Out of the 250,000 alumni around the world, Harvard clubs have a total membership of about 38,000. The New York club contributes 10,300 members, the Boston club 7,400.

The clubs have been frequent fundraising sources for University administrators during the ongoing $2.1 billion capital campaign.

At the Harvard Club of New York, 75 percent of the members are over 32, according to an article in Tuesday's New York Times. About 80 percent of the Harvard Club of Boston members are 30 and over, says Eric W. Gillberg, the club's general man ager.

The distribution is similarly disproportionate in smaller clubs.

Only about a third of the 80 members of the Harvard Club of Quincy--which also includes the Milton, Weymouth, and Braintree areas--is under 40, according to President Barryl. Ambroseno '82.

Ambroseno says the membership is so old that every year, three or four of Quincy's members pass away.

The club has attempted to attract a younger membership by sponsoring get-togethers to which recent graduates are admitted free.

But Ambroseno says very few young people actually show up to these events.

"Younger members seem to be more interested in getting out and finding a job," he says. "They don't have the time or desire [to join a club].... They still have the feeling of a stodgy club, or they're too busy trying to find out what they're doing in life."

In hope of changing the current trend, some Harvard alumni clubs have been trying to exorcise their old boys' image.

The Harvard Club of New York now has a "recent graduates' room" with a pool table and wide-screen television, according to the Times.

Committee Created

McDougall says the Harvard Alumni Association has created a Recent Graduate Committee, whose mission is to entice younger graduates to involve themselves with alumni clubs.

The Harvard Club of Washington, D.C., has followed suit. Marks says the 2,500-member organization has set up its own committee of recent graduates to develop hipper activities for twentysomething consumption. The club is the nation's third largest, with annual membership dues of $50.

Other clubs have also tried to increase their appeal to Generation X graduates by electing younger alumni to their boards, McDougall says.

Activities at alumni clubs have branched away from traditional dinner-lectures and gatherings.

Members of the Washington club have arranged white-water rafting and bicycling trips, community service work and beer-tasting gatherings, Marks says.

Gillberg says the Boston club has sponsored Thanksgiving and Easter buffets, mixers, ballroom dancing instruction and wine-making dinners.

But the movement to attract the young is not confined to Harvard alumni clubs.

The Yale Club of Boston planned an advertising campaign last year for which they developed a "jazzier, more appealing" mailing for graduates, says Murray Wheeler Jr., president of the club. And MIT alumni clubs jumped on the band wagon with bungijumping outings and Shakespeare festivals, according to Janet L. Serman, associate director of the MIT alumni association.

Still, the two Harvard alumni clubs that have their own clubhouses--the New York and Boston clubs--have retained some of their tradition, if not necessarily their stuffiness.

The older of the Boston club's two buildings, a five-story clubhouse built in 1913, boasts old-world mahogany furniture and paneling. It also requires members to wear coats and ties on the first floor and above, Gillberg says.

"This is a very prestigious businessperson's club," he says. "The [dress] code reflects the tenor of the club."

But he adds, the clubhouse has had none of the problems with stuffiness which have beset its sister club in New York.

"They've been fairly on the formal side," he says. "What they've done recently is create an area of the club that is less formal so they can be casual. We've always had that."

The lower level of the Boston club, which houses a bar and grill as well as athletic facilities, allows casual dress, Gillberg says.

"Members have the option to dine formally or dine casually," he says.

While, according to the Times, the Harvard Club of New York has suffered a 20 percent drop in revenues from dining rooms and functions in the last six or seven years, Gillberg says the Boston club is "fine" financially.

The club recently renovated overnight rooms, banquet rooms and the fitness area in its 85-year-old building, he says.

Expensive

Part of the reason for low recruitment numbers among younger graduates may be the Harvard clubhouses' high prices.

In the Boston club's dining halls, entrees are priced at about $22, and rooms run about $100 a night, Gillberg says.

The Boston club's Back Bay building is equipped with a fitness center, 11 indoor aquash courts, overnight hotel-like accommodations and a grill/bar as well as formal dining areas.

The club is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Membership dues may run as high as $1,400 for the first year and $775 each additional year, officials at the Boston club say.

But presidents of clubs that do not have clubhouses say their dues are considerably less. They range from as low as $10 for recent graduates to up to $50 for senior members.

To offset the financial crunch, the Boston clubhouse sets membership dues proportionately less for members who have graduated more recently. The club also waives initiation fees for students interested in joining. Gillberg says.

"In general, when you get out of college, you're not in a position financially to undertake the costs of the club." Gillberg says. "We take that into consideration.

The distribution is similarly disproportionate in smaller clubs.

Only about a third of the 80 members of the Harvard Club of Quincy--which also includes the Milton, Weymouth, and Braintree areas--is under 40, according to President Barryl. Ambroseno '82.

Ambroseno says the membership is so old that every year, three or four of Quincy's members pass away.

The club has attempted to attract a younger membership by sponsoring get-togethers to which recent graduates are admitted free.

But Ambroseno says very few young people actually show up to these events.

"Younger members seem to be more interested in getting out and finding a job," he says. "They don't have the time or desire [to join a club].... They still have the feeling of a stodgy club, or they're too busy trying to find out what they're doing in life."

In hope of changing the current trend, some Harvard alumni clubs have been trying to exorcise their old boys' image.

The Harvard Club of New York now has a "recent graduates' room" with a pool table and wide-screen television, according to the Times.

Committee Created

McDougall says the Harvard Alumni Association has created a Recent Graduate Committee, whose mission is to entice younger graduates to involve themselves with alumni clubs.

The Harvard Club of Washington, D.C., has followed suit. Marks says the 2,500-member organization has set up its own committee of recent graduates to develop hipper activities for twentysomething consumption. The club is the nation's third largest, with annual membership dues of $50.

Other clubs have also tried to increase their appeal to Generation X graduates by electing younger alumni to their boards, McDougall says.

Activities at alumni clubs have branched away from traditional dinner-lectures and gatherings.

Members of the Washington club have arranged white-water rafting and bicycling trips, community service work and beer-tasting gatherings, Marks says.

Gillberg says the Boston club has sponsored Thanksgiving and Easter buffets, mixers, ballroom dancing instruction and wine-making dinners.

But the movement to attract the young is not confined to Harvard alumni clubs.

The Yale Club of Boston planned an advertising campaign last year for which they developed a "jazzier, more appealing" mailing for graduates, says Murray Wheeler Jr., president of the club. And MIT alumni clubs jumped on the band wagon with bungijumping outings and Shakespeare festivals, according to Janet L. Serman, associate director of the MIT alumni association.

Still, the two Harvard alumni clubs that have their own clubhouses--the New York and Boston clubs--have retained some of their tradition, if not necessarily their stuffiness.

The older of the Boston club's two buildings, a five-story clubhouse built in 1913, boasts old-world mahogany furniture and paneling. It also requires members to wear coats and ties on the first floor and above, Gillberg says.

"This is a very prestigious businessperson's club," he says. "The [dress] code reflects the tenor of the club."

But he adds, the clubhouse has had none of the problems with stuffiness which have beset its sister club in New York.

"They've been fairly on the formal side," he says. "What they've done recently is create an area of the club that is less formal so they can be casual. We've always had that."

The lower level of the Boston club, which houses a bar and grill as well as athletic facilities, allows casual dress, Gillberg says.

"Members have the option to dine formally or dine casually," he says.

While, according to the Times, the Harvard Club of New York has suffered a 20 percent drop in revenues from dining rooms and functions in the last six or seven years, Gillberg says the Boston club is "fine" financially.

The club recently renovated overnight rooms, banquet rooms and the fitness area in its 85-year-old building, he says.

Expensive

Part of the reason for low recruitment numbers among younger graduates may be the Harvard clubhouses' high prices.

In the Boston club's dining halls, entrees are priced at about $22, and rooms run about $100 a night, Gillberg says.

The Boston club's Back Bay building is equipped with a fitness center, 11 indoor aquash courts, overnight hotel-like accommodations and a grill/bar as well as formal dining areas.

The club is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Membership dues may run as high as $1,400 for the first year and $775 each additional year, officials at the Boston club say.

But presidents of clubs that do not have clubhouses say their dues are considerably less. They range from as low as $10 for recent graduates to up to $50 for senior members.

To offset the financial crunch, the Boston clubhouse sets membership dues proportionately less for members who have graduated more recently. The club also waives initiation fees for students interested in joining. Gillberg says.

"In general, when you get out of college, you're not in a position financially to undertake the costs of the club." Gillberg says. "We take that into consideration.