RUS, Perspective Protest Final Clubs

As pre-frosh descended on campus this weekend, the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) and Perspective distributed pamphlets designed to inform both the visiting pre-frosh and current undergraduates about the history of exclusion at Harvard’s all-male final clubs.

RUS passed out copies of “Behind Closed Doors: Final Clubs” outside of the Science Center and Annenberg.

Alexandra Neuhaus-Follini ’04, RUS member and managing editor of the liberal monthly Perspective, spearheaded the project.

“It’s part of a bigger project to democratize social space at Harvard,” said Jessica M. Rosenberg ’04, RUS publicity chair.

The pamphlet offers a time line of the history of Harvard’s eight final clubs—the AD, Delphic, Fly, Fox, Owl, Phoenix, Porcellian and Spee—with a focus on the history of exclusion of women.

But the pamphlet also chronicles the decline of the defunct Pi Eta Speakers Club—a fraternity that closed in 1991 after incidents related to reckless partying and alleged sexual assaults.

RUS representatives said the pamphlet serves as a starting point in rectifying the Harvard’s dependency on these exclusive male institutions for a social scene.

“We see final clubs stuck in this anachronistic rut,” said Rebeccah G. Watson ’04, RUS co-president. “We expect them [final clubs] to move along with the changing tides in the University [to better reflect the changes of the student body in this half of the century].”

The representatives said they often are friends with individual final club members and say some RUS members frequent the final clubs. But the pamphlet, they say, reflects the troubled pasts of the all-male social institutions and the culture they create.

While most final club presidents did not respond to requests for comment, a final club president who spoke on the condition of anonymity said he sees the publication as the most recent development in the anti-final club movement.

“People have negative thoughts, but they are entitled to them and that’s fine,” he said. “I don’t think anyone in my club would necessarily be upset by this.”

Remembering Pi Eta

Besides profiling the current clubs, the pamphlet also detailed the history of the defunct fraternity Pi Eta.

Watson said the pamphlet included Pi Eta because even though it was not an official final club, the fraternity owned space in Harvard Square and followed similar rules and traditions.

“I feel like although Pi Eta is gone, its historical significance has a lot of relevance today. It created a culture that we can’t deny affected other clubs at Harvard,” Watson said.

Others maintain that there is distinction between Pi Eta and the final clubs.

“It never was a final club and it never held it self out to be one,” said Rev. Douglas W. Sears ’69, an alumnus of the Fox club and former executive director of the graduate board Inter-Club Council.

Another publicity effort—sponsored solely by Perspective—singled out Pi Eta in its message against all final clubs.

Fliers posted in the Yard and throughout campus this weekend were headlined “Boycott Final Clubs!” in all cap letters and featured an excerpt from a 1984 newsletter written to Pi Eta members.

“Pi Eta advertised to its members the ‘Amazing pounding of private parts some poor suspecting fat load is going to take this Saturday by your huge and erect penis,’” read part of the flier.

The fliers had not been approved by the College administration in accordance with standard practice.

She said national statistics regarding fraternities and university-related rapes, which the pamphlet reports, can also be applied to Harvard’s final clubs and that she wanted to warn pre-frosh.

“They were suppose to be shocking, and disgusting and they were suppose to keep pre-frosh out of final clubs,” Neuhaus-Follini said.

Sears said he shares Perspective’s stance that women should not be included or even attend final clubs.

“I really hope women stay away from final clubs because they aren’t suppose to be places where women congregate,” he said.

The final club president said he would not mind if people boycotted his club.

“Boycott us, please do,” he said. “It’s not fun for me when a lot of random people who don’t know anyone in the club show up at my door. It’s not an open party—it’s for the friends of people in the club.”

Reactions to Fliers

Neuhaus-Follini said she has gotten mixed reactions to Perspectives’ posters—some people thanked her, and a pre-frosh told her she was not going to go to a final club. But Neuhaus-Follini also said she saw men taking down the fliers.

Some pre-frosh said they found the fliers confusing.

“I don’t understand this quote,” said Tamara I. Stern from Staten Island, N.Y. “What does it mean?”

Another pre-frosh, Alan Chu from Ann Arbor, Mich., also said he thought the poster was unclear.

Chu said he guessed the sign was telling readers that final clubs are places where people go to have sex.

Neuhaus-Follini said Perspective had more freedom than RUS—the oldest feminist organization on campus—in advertising to pre-frosh.

“I think RUS wanted to be careful and Perspective is not as concerned about being careful,” Neuhaus-Follini said.

Though RUS representatives stressed the success of their collaboration with Perspective, they decided not to co-sponsor the flier because their goal was to disseminate information and they found the posters limiting.

“I think our message is closer to the back of the pamphlet, ‘You have options,’ not, ‘Boycott Final Clubs,’” said Rosenberg.

Space of Their Own

RUS members disagree about just what those options are—whether final clubs should integrate or whether women should find their own spaces on campus.

The pamphlet chronicles the integration of male final clubs—how the undergraduate members of the Phoenix and the Fly have voted to allow women in but have yet to “punch” any female students.

“I think its probably unfortunate the way that they are set up—its not egalitarian, but at the same time by trying to prosecute the clubs, essentially trying to close them down, does not take into consideration the effort and expense the members of the club put forward. [It is] for themselves, yes, but also to supplement a fairly difficult social setting,” the final club president said.

Integration is one avenue to “democratizing” social space, as is the formation of women social clubs and sororities by students and the establishment of a women’s center by the University, according to RUS members.

“I, personally, think the world would be a better place if final clubs didn’t exist,” Neuhaus-Follini said. “That is not necessarily what RUS wants.”

Rosenberg said she realizes students are dependent on final clubs for spaces to socialize.

“I don’t think you can institute any change of what final clubs are—an amazing number of Harvard students attend them and really don’t go to parties anywhere else,” Rosenberg said.

The president of the final club said that the proliferation of women’s social groups in past years is creating new opportunities for women on campus.

“They are doing things to have a place of their own and I think that’s great,” he said, referring to efforts of social clubs to acquire housing.

The newest female club Isis recently rented an apartment off-campus.

Neuhaus-Follini said that while women social clubs may help, they perpetuate elitism and are not an effective protest against final clubs because women’s clubs often rent party space in final club buildings.

Rosenberg said that though women’s social clubs are a step in the right direction, it is not the ultimate goal.

She and Watson suggest establishing a women’s center, which would offer social and office space, as a possible alternative to final clubs.

Neuhaus-Follini said she is not a proponent of a women’s center.

“I don’t think a women’s center can replace final clubs, especially if it’s a Harvard sponsored place,” Neuhaus-Follini said.

RUS members do agree that while Harvard’s policy of not recognizing final clubs because they are exclusively male is well-intentioned, it ignores larger persisting problems.

“There are hundreds of years of privilege and tradition—institutions like final clubs ensure that there isn’t a level playing field. RUS believes it is a responsibility of the University to address that,” Rosenberg said.

—Staff writer Nalina Sombuntham can be reached at sombunth@fas.harvard.edu.