No Shame in Having Some Fun

For years, Harvard administrators have been washing their hands of the social inequalities at Harvard, beginning with their refusal to officially recognize final clubs. Harvard has recently tried to address this inequality by pinning the status of victim on Harvard women and consequently insulting the women who frequent these clubs.

In a recent article in the Independent, Dean Harry R. Lewis '68 stated, "The unequal status of women at the clubs--unwelcome as members, but welcomed for the amusement of the male members at their parties--continues to be of great concern to the College." He then went on to say, "Fortunately, our students are smart enough to figure out that nothing is ever truly free, though every year some first year women learn this lesson in discomfiting and even dangerous ways."

As far as the "unwelcome as members" part goes, I have no desire to belong to an all-male final club, just as I do not want to belong to the Dins, the Kroks or the football team. Now let's address "amusement." Women go to final clubs to have a good time. When women choose to go to final clubs, they are choosing to go someplace where they will never actually belong, but where they may be able to dance, play pool and have fun--activities a little too rare at Harvard.

The assertion that women found at Final Clubs are there in order to amuse the members is degrading to the women who choose to go to them. Implying that women pay some sort of "fee" by entering a final club conjures up the disturbing (and unrealistic) image that women are prostituting themselves to gain access to these exclusive clubs.

We are well aware of the circumstances at the clubs. We know that the members make a concerted effort to attract women to their clubs on the weekend. Despite this, though, many of us make the decision to attend the clubs because we know that there is fun to be had. Those who are insulted by the efforts of final club members probably decide to stay home or to go elsewhere. If we choose to go to these places, we are fully aware of the flaws in the system we are accepting.

I encourage women who feel strongly enough about the issue to start a movement to boycott final clubs. The women who attend them, however, have a similar right to do as they please without bearing any labels given to them by Harvard administrators.

The claims of Dean Lewis are not only irrelevant, but they do not reflect the experiences that we are having. Women who go to final clubs are not being victimized; they are trying to have fun. Lewis' sensationalism portrays women in an inappropriate manner. Is this not exactly what the administration is trying to combat?

Please, Dean Lewis, stop making us out to be the victim in order to explain your opposition to final clubs. If you want to do something to improve the status of women at Harvard, you might encourage the administration to tenure more women professors and stop bullying Radcliffe.

Social inequality at Harvard is a reality which can only be addressed by the students. We are faced with a social system that was constructed to serve the needs of men. The existing male final clubs are run by "grad boards" of men who went to a different Harvard--years, even decades, ago. Women who wish to organize encounter both social and pragmatic problems; undergraduate women do not make a serious effort to build social organizations, and when they do, it is impossible to find space given the exorbitant prices and scarcity real estate in the Square.

For these reasons, there are three female social organizations (all without houses) as opposed to the nine male organizations. Women are not victims of this system. We are making conscious decisions about where we would like to socialize. When we go to a final club, we accept the fact that we have limited privileges in that club and enjoy the social atmosphere.

Women on this campus maintain the right to visit final clubs without shame. This is not to say that we should cover our eyes in the face of inequity. While we women should unite to promote more social interactions among ourselves, we should not permit the administration to label us as unwitting victims.

Vanessa L. Melendez '99 is a environmental science and public policy concentrator in Cabot House.