Pretension? Moi?

Raja G. Haddad ’05 is a published poet, co-founder of a film magazine, and a chef at Quincy Grille, among other things. Haddad is personable. If you ask, he will describe the details of an interesting film (“The Dreamers”) carefully and lovingly. He will eagerly mention his interest in law, in Social Studies, and in making crepes for late-night Quincy diners.

“It would be hard to think of something that does not (or would not) interest him,” wrote his friend Raluca I. Manea 05 in an e-mail.

But Haddad is also currently the president of the Signet, a club that has been considered notoriously exclusive. It doesn’t seem to be the obvious place for a guy who wants to be friends with everyone.

But that’s kind of Haddad’s point. The new president has made efforts to infuse the Signet with his self-described attitude of “openness.” In his presidential platform, he vowed to generate a sense of inclusiveness at the club “in spite of its exclusivity and prior culture of snobbery,” said a current member, who wished to remain anonymous.

“I don’t think you can justify the existence of a society of arts and letters unless it’s productive,” Haddad explained. And for Haddad, productive means opening the Signet’s doors—if only slightly.

NOT SO FRIENDLY

Haddad isn’t the first one to try and open up the literary society. Indeed, the Signet was founded in 1870 as a reaction against The Hasty Pudding Club, whose influence on the campus the Signet founders found unfairly powerful.

They were also put off but the club’s “promiscuity;” according to a 1958 Crimson article, one of the Signet’s earliest rules deemed “acts of conviviality” out of line with their mission of moral superiority.

In 1958, however, The Crimson reported that the Signet had become just another venue for socializing. “The assumption that a group of interesting people will spontaneously produce brilliant conversation when brought together does not often hold true after a morning of classes when most members prefer to relax rather than to emanate or to absorb culture,” the Crimson story said.

The society initiated its first female members in 1971—the first social club at Harvard to do so—and elected its first female president the next year. Even under her watch, however, the Signet continued to face allegations of elitism and sexism. Poet Adrienne Rich was invited for the organization’s annual dinner in 1972, only to storm out after a speech, which, she told The Crimson, showed that the Signet was clearly “a male-dominated institution.”

The image of exclusivity remained through the 90s. “While snobby might not be the exact word I would use,” said Jonathan T. Kaden ’97, a non-member who had friends in the organization, “it’s close enough.”

A current member, who requested to remain anonymous, said that the Signet’s membership in recent history tended to represent a limited group, namely, the staff of the Advocate. “A few years ago it was essentially the Advocate part deux,” the member said.

NEW REGIME?

Haddad will happily tell you, however, that the interests of the current membership are broad. “They range from writers to visual artists, animators, dancers, humorists,” he said, smiling before adding, “philosophers—as many as possible.”

His efforts have brought a new wave of members into the fold. The organization has recently seen an infusion of dancers and journalists. Along with changes in membership, he has also tried to bring the society’s focus back to the arts, not just swanky lunches. He has involved Signet alumni and faculty members in Signet events, including Stockard Channing ’65, Tommy Lee Jones ’62, John A. Lithgow ’67, and Porter University Professor Helen Vendler.

“He has been proactive in making people more aware of it,” said his roommate David W. Huebner ’05, who is not a member.

Even outside of the Signet’s doors, Haddad has tried to branch out. As Huebner attests, Haddad tries to include the entire Harvard community in Signet-sponsored events like showings of films by VES students and coffee houses. Haddad has also made efforts to publicize the organization’s weekly Friday tea.

Huebner suspects, though, that Haddad’s ultra-inclusiveness might not satisfy all Signet members. “I wouldn’t be surprised if some people have some hesitations about it being on the move,” he said, but he claimed to have seen no such hesitation.

Haddad has certainly been popular among the organization’s current membership.

“He has definitely been the best president during my time in the Society,” wrote Manea, a member of the Signet. But the organization still caps its membership and opens its doors only to those “put up,” or nominated, by current members.

Haddad seems to hover above the fray, just trying to be a friendly guy at the helm of an organization with a lot of baggage. During a recent job interview, instead of impressing the interviewer with his published poems or his other accomplishments, Haddad instead tried to make friends.

“I really enjoyed my interviewer,” he said enthusiastically. “We talked about Camus.”