RUS Takes Stand Against All-Male Clubs

The social scene at Harvard doesn’t offer women a level playing field, according to members of the Radcliffe Union of Students, which last night for the first time discussed trying to join traditionally all-male final clubs.

According to Natalia A. Truszkowska ’04, the RUS president, the issue of female membership in final clubs is something that some clubs have discussed in previous years. The idea was rekindled for RUS after the Fly Club’s ability to receive some tax-deductible donations was affirmed by the City of Cambridge earlier this fall, and the club was hurtled into the limelight.

The Fly Club’s constitution doesn’t officially prohibit women, and Truszkowska said that it’s time to consider the idea.

“We want to push for education about this,” Truszkowska said. “We want to raise awareness about final clubs.”

The Fly Club is also one of the few clubs that has a history of progressive thought toward the admittance of women—along with the Phoenix S.K. and Delphic clubs, among others. The Fly’s constitution gives undergraduates the power to elect members, and doesn’t say women can’t be among them. That may be a sign that times are about to change, various RUS members said.

“Final clubs have been a timeless continuum in a world of change,” said Kate Jackson ’01-’02, also a member of the Seneca.

For several years, the Fly members have voted to incorporate women into the organization, although the proposal must pass for three years in a row to become official. No vote has been taken yet this year. Fly President Angus R. Burgin ’02 declined to comment.

RUS member Jennifer L. Sternad ’04 said she thinks it’s only a matter of time until women are accepted into final clubs.

“Final clubs are realizing that it’s impossible to continue as an all-male organization for a long period of time,” she said.

While there are an increasing number of female groups on campus, such as the new all-women social organization the Isis, the male clubs still represent “the old boys network” and the University’s elitist, sexist past, RUS members said. Getting women into final clubs is more of a statement than a solution to the problems that final clubs represent, Jackson said.

“Final clubs represent the structure of elitism. If we get women in, it will just be perpetuating the terrible thing,” she said.

Jackson then proposed supporting a student center, or possibly a women’s center, that would give students an alternative place to congregate and host parties.

Jessica M. Rosenberg ’04 suggested creating more groups to encourage female participation in social activities.

“If we take the assumption that they [final clubs] won’t let women in, we need to create alternative social settings, so that one group isn’t in the position of privilege,” she said.

RUS is meeting next Tuesday to discuss plans of action.

—Staff writer Marla B. Kaplan can be reached at kaplan@fas.harvard.edu.