Four-Part Discrimination

As most freshmen will have realized by now, Harvard isn’t quite the liberal, egalitarian paradise that its conservative detractors make it out to be. Among the social activists, progressives, and left-leaning intellectuals that populate this campus, there lurk shadowy organizations that conservatively cling to tradition and anachronism, even in the face of great societal progress. The vast majority of the freshman class encounters these nocturnal beasts even before they arrive at Harvard, during pre-frosh weekend. And those who escape them then are nevertheless ensnared by the end of their first week on campus. With names that are either enigmatic or animal-inspired, their mystique is unquestionable, as is the magnetic effect they have on freshmen women and men, alike. But as far as membership is concerned, it’s only the latter group in which they’re interested: women need not apply.

To their members, they represent the very best Harvard has to offer. The high life is served up on a silver platter, featuring regular parties, free travel, and a never-ending stream of nubile young women, eager for their company. Upon graduation, members can expect an advantage in the job market, thanks to large and well-connected alumni networks, whose influence keeps these bastions of Harvard’s social elite rooted so firmly in the past. Though Yale’s equivalents to these societal menaces are more widely known around the world, Harvard’s havens of all-male exclusivity are no less flagrant in their preservation of an outdated kind of style.

I’m referring, of course, to all-male a cappella groups.

The Regulations for Undergraduate Organizations at Harvard College include as their first criterion, “A constitution and by-laws whose membership clause shall not discriminate on the basis of…sex.” Nonetheless, Harvard allows these single-sex menaces to exist freely on its campus, implicitly recognizing them as legitimate student organizations. While it may not do so publicly, College administrators recognize, for shame, that there has long been implicit cooperation between University Hall and these groups. Deans of the College have hosted euphemistically titled “Jams,” and scores of staff have ventured into Sanders Theater-—under cover of darkness—to take in performances.

On a campus where resources allocated for student life are perennially insufficient to meet the needs of the College’s student body, it is unconscionable that Harvard abides the existence of this small handful of groups and their monopoly over some of the choicest opportunities available to undergraduates. Trips to Bermuda, World Tours, intercessions spent skiing in Vail, performances in major motion pictures—these marks of unspeakable privilege stand in stark contrast to the opportunities afforded to most other student organizations. As other groups scrounge for space, all-male a cappella groups devour rooms for their rehearsals. One even has a posh clubhouse to use as its home base. While most Harvard students socialize in overcrowded dorm rooms drinking cheap liquor out of brightly colored Solo cups, a cappella group members hobnob with the rich and famous at the finest restaurants in Boston and Cambridge. That these flagrantly discriminatory organizations have been allowed to survive for so long is shocking. It’s time for a change.

That’s why I’m calling today for a boycott of all things all-male a cappella. These groups won’t stop existing without action on each of our parts, so it’s up to us to finally stop the unspeakable hegemony of the sexist. The next time someone asks you if you’re going to the Jam on Saturday night, just say “no.” Use your House courtyard to build a bonfire of your all-male a cappella CDs, and encourage your friends to join in the quasi-cathartic ritual. These organizations survive only because we allow them to, so it is our responsibility to see to it that they never again enjoy our affections and attention.

Hear this call to arms, fellow Harvard students, and take up the fight against discrimination. Because there is no possible way that any all-male group with any kind of power and appeal can be anything but sexist and, well, just generally awful. Avoid their concerts and boycott their parties. Stage a sit-in at University Hall calling for their expulsion from the Harvard community. So long as we let ourselves think that these organizations have enough redeeming qualities to justify their existence, we can count ourselves responsible for social power on this campus remaining firmly in the hands of men. And that’s an outrage.

Adam Goldenberg ’08 is a social studies concentrator in Winthrop House. His column appears on alternate Fridays.