Seneca Falls Short

The announcement earlier this month that the A.D. club would close its doors to undergraduate members in order to clean up the building for its upcoming anniversary serves as a fitting footnote to a year that has seen the gradual retreat of the final clubs from the center of the Harvard social scene. Though the shutdown of the A.D. is being labeled a "temporary" move by current members and alumni, we hope the announcement, along with changes the other clubs have made this year, will lead to a permanent and positive change to the social atmosphere on campus.

But even as one more final club has put restrictions on access to its building, 19 Harvard women made their own announcement earlier this month, introducing the rest of the undergraduate community to a new club, the Seneca. While not taking on the label of "final club," the group's formation stems from a failed attempt to form a sister organization to one of the current final clubs, and its implied exclusivity seems to be a big step in the wrong direction.

To be fair, it must be recognized that the group has made a concerted effort to appeal to the student body at large. By all outward appearances, the Seneca is an organization whose sole purpose is to further the social and networking opportunities for all undergraduate women. Named after the famous 1848 women's convention in Seneca Falls, N.Y., the club's mission statement states that they wish "to provide members with a network of women that fosters a strong sense of community and support--an outlet to share experiences and enjoy themselves in a non-competitive environment." Members "will comprise a diverse, dynamic and enthusiastic group chosen from an open application process" and will "develop their individual strengths and talents through lasting and supportive relationships with their fellow members."

It certainly seems to be a noble prospect. But though the motives behind the club's formation may be pure, the way the club plans to meet those goals is inherently and severely flawed.

The women in the Seneca club have made obtaining property for a club building a top priority, beginning a flurry of fundraising to cover the incredible costs (estimated at between $1.5 and 2 million). The current members are already anticipating that "alumnae will provide financial security."

Parties that the club hosts are currently being touted as "open to everybody," but the feasibility of such a goal seems tenuous. It would seem that any purely social organization that requires an application process, as the Seneca says will, will inevitably result in exclusion, however "open" the process might initially be. And while last week's "get-to-know-us" barbeque in the Lowell House courtyard was a nice public introduction of the organization, the influx of members from two other female social clubs, the Delta Gamma sorority and the Bee, a female final club, does nothing to reassure us that the Seneca will be anything more. Club members also reiterated their hope to have good relations with the final clubs, despite rejecting the title for themselves.

The ostensible goals of the club are good ones, but its nebulous membership policy is troubling. Without the benefit of College endorsement (and no single-sex social organization will or should be recognized by the College), the Seneca looks too much like a final club. And what Harvard women--and, for that matter, all undergraduates--need is for social life at the College to become less and not more fractionalized.