Keep Them Off Campus

Final club initiations shouldn't interfere with campus life

The final clubs at Harvard have seen better days. With their doors closed to outsiders--for some even to members--they are no longer the party places of yesteryear. As the punch season draws to a close, the message Harvard now sends to final clubs seems to be one of peaceful co-existence: We pretend you don't exist, you pretend our rules don't apply. Yet the question remains, how can the University hasten their end?

Harvard has taken a pacifistic approach to the clubs, arguing that since they are not affiliated with the campus, it has no jurisdiction over them. But if Harvard wants to get rid of these sexist and elitist organizations once and for all, surely it can lean a little harder. For instance, although Harvard doesn't hold sway over the clubs as off-campus entities, the College certainly does have clout over their main stage--classrooms and campus space.

Many may have been amused by the sight of hapless initiates butchering that modern-day ballad by the Backstreet Boys, but fewer were pleased when they brought their chickens into the classroom. How did professors feel when the first 15 minutes of their class were taken up by the vocal displays of these would-be club members? We bet they weren't all that happy.

Harvard should not allow final club activities to invade the campus. If final clubs are truly outside of the University, Harvard should be more vigilant in keeping them that way, especially when their displays interrupt classes and hurt animals.

Perhaps Harvard hasn't done anything because so far the final clubs have been busy shooting themselves in the foot. The Owl Club, for instance, posted two disasters for its season: one when they missed their "booze cruise" due to scheduling mishaps and then, more seriously, when graduate members closed the club to them on the night of their final initiation party. Harvard seems to be content to watch the clubs spin their own web of destruction as they alienate their graduate members, thus destroying an important part of their mission--to be an old boys' network for their members.

But Harvard must act forcefully to protect its interests on its campus, regardless of the final fate of the clubs. By restricting punch season antics, Harvard would be sending a clear message to the clubs: You are not wanted here.

The clubs, as antiquated bastions of old boy obnoxiousness, should either be forced to abandon their sexism--which officially keeps them from being recognized by the University--or close their doors altogether. This is the message that Harvard should have been sending all along.