Final Clubs Not Responsible For All of Society's Problems

To the editors:

I can honestly say that I have never felt as important as I did after reading "Facing the Scars of Final Clubs" by David Friedland (Opinion, Nov. 13). Apparently, in between going to class, writing my thesis and tempting "trim" with trips to the Caribbean, my final club cronies and I have had the time to "poison the nation," topple the White House and undo the very fabric of society.

Could Friedland possibly have found anything else to blame us for? In addition to the ills listed above, he covers Harvard's struggling party scene, issues in his own social life and even the inappropriate behavior of a former employer. How about world hunger? Or the spotted owl? Society might be experiencing moral decay, but Friedland needs to find a more reasonable target for his finger pointing and name-calling.

If his article does anything, it speaks to one of the real problems facing American society--our generation's inability to take responsibility for our actions or present social conditions. Friedland went too far, though. He sacrificed accuracy and even plausibility in his sad pursuit of someone or something to blame.

There are a great many tragedies surrounding this discourse on final clubs; as Friedland himself points out, too much of the Harvard community holds opinions regarding the clubs that are substantially uninformed. It seems clear, however, that these assumptions can be traced directly to the outrageous exaggerations and blatant stereotypes that pervade articles such as Friedland's.

Friedland takes advantage of students' unfamiliarity with final clubs to propagate a body of unfounded mythology that has little bearing on reality. Even more disturbing, though, is that Friedland himself frequents final clubs. He, if anyone then, should know that his article is a woefully incomplete depiction of final clubs, which makes no mention of the positive things clubs bring to their members and to Harvard. Why, might I ask, do you spend time at final clubs Mr. Friedland? Are you poisoning the nation as well?

If anything, the women upon whom Friedland presupposes ignorance and naivete, the women he assumes cannot decide for themselves where they want to spend a Saturday night, are the ones who should feel the most insulted by his article. How can Friedland honestly speak of fighting chauvinism when he feels that he is the one who must dictate what is "acceptable" for poor and defenseless Harvard women?

The benefits of final clubs are obvious enough to their members and guests. I really wish other Harvard students had an opportunity to develop opinions of their own without such a siege of misinformation. I did not invent this club system and I wish that women had an equivalent, but given the opportunity to take advantage of final clubs and the lack of comparable social options, I honestly feel that it would be almost negligent for me not to do so, either as a member or as a guest.

ADAM W. BELLACK '99 

Nov. 18, 1998

The writer is a member of the A.D. Club, a final club located at the corner of Plympton Street and Mass Ave.