Knocking on the Final Clubs' Closed Doors

After Harvard severed its ties to the nine all-male final clubs in 1984, punching season returned, the parties continued, and for the most part the debate over the clubs seemed to have reached a settlement. Until Lisa J. Schkolnick '88 came on the scene.

A Harvard senior, Schkolnick filed a complaint in December against the Fly Club with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), charging that the clubs' admissions policies constitute discrimination against women.

In order for the MCAD to be able to rule in the case, the quasi-governmental body must establish that it has jurisdiction, which is dependent on the clubs being found to be a significant part of Harvard life. After the formal break from the clubs, the University cut off their Centrex service, steam heat, police service, and most recently, made the Harvard-owned portion of the Fly Club Garden more accessible to non-club members. With the formal ties nearly all severed, Schkolnick's case may prove difficult.

In her original complaint to MCAD, Schkolnick writes, "The clubs, though not actually affiliated with Harvard, sometimes hold functions on Harvard property and significantly (and adversily[sic]) affect Harvard undergraduate life." Between 10 and 12 percent of all Harvard undergraduates are members, and many more, both male and female, attend club parties.

Among the major points of contention are that the clubs provide opportunities for making professional contacts and have libraries which women cannot take advantage of. Consequently, Schkolnick argues, the clubs are both integral to undergraduate life and discriminatory.

More Controversy

Regardless of the outcome of Scholnick's complaint, her action has renewed campus-wide debate on the clubs, bringing to the surface what seemed to be a dormant issue. Already a student group called Stop Witholding Access Today (SWAT) has been formally approved, pledging to support Schkolnick's case and to make students think before they join the clubs. And last night, the Undergraduate Council debated resolutions to provide funding for Schkolnick and to give her moral support.

"The attitude is already changing," says SWAT member Chrystia A. Freeland '90, adding that people are now much more willing to take a stand on the issue than they were two months ago.

But club members say that many of the complaints of detractors are unfounded or unfair.

"It's just a place to hang out," says Peter Y. Lee '88, a member of the Delphic. He says the clubs serve the same role at Harvard as fraternities do at other schools.

And Class Marshal Tab T. Stewart '88 says, "It's purely a social situation." He says his club is a place to watch television or study and sponsors few community activities each year, such as painting houses.

Club members say rumors of what students in and out of the clubs term "bimbo" parties--attended by large numbers of women from Harvard and neighboring schools--are unfounded.

But Michael A. Zubrensky, a former member of the Delphic, says some clubs do in fact have "bimbo" parties. "Some clubs invite just the freshman women of neighboring colleges," he says.

Zubrensky says many of the clubs have guest rooms for one night stands and, if the bedrooms are not available, "pool tables are used for that purpose." He says that if women were given membership in the clubs their presence would "create an environment where men think twice."

Club members steadfastly deny that their buildings have any such facilities, or that their parties differ significantly from what goes on in the houses.

"What goes on at the clubs is "the same as a rooming group of guys who get drunk and act crass," says William C. Parsons '89, a former member of the the Porcellian Club.

"We don't have bedrooms," says Ian M. Huschle '88, former president of the Fly Club.

Club members also say that being in a club does not give one a network for connections. They say the clubs are no different in this respect from any other Harvard organization.

"Maybe 30 years ago there was a network, but I have yet to witness it," says Stewart. He says so few men belong and those who do spend so little time there that, at least at his club, involvement does not constitute an advantage.

Members also say that the graduate members are usually not very involved in the clubs and don't really help members finds jobs. "The graduate members stop by from time to time," says one student who graduated last year. But he adds, "You don't get to know them."

And Huschle says the rumor that the club libraries are an important part of club life is untrue.

"The volumes there can all be found in the libraries of the University," Huschle says.

"The claim that women are denied access to any kind of valuable libraries is a fallacy," says Zubrensky, adding that the books are mainly those left behind by students when they graduate.

All club members contacted said the libraries were of little importance, many saying they had never used a book there. One member called them "wallcovering."

The final clubs developed from fraternities to eating clubs at the end of the 19th century and later became social organizations after World War II. Although most clubs still serve meals, most members say they eat at them a few times at most. Called final clubs to distinguish them from the waiting clubs that once catered to the sophmores and juniors but no longer exist, the nine all-male social clubs were governed by rules developed in the 1920s until the University severed ties with them four years ago.

While Schkolnick complaint hinges on her contention that she does not have access to the libraries, dining hall services and educational and professonial networks offered by the clubs, she also points to evidence of continued ties between the College and clubs.

Schkolnick says the University still awards the Burton Memorial Scholarship, which requires its recipients to be either a member of the sect of Saint John the Evangelist or the Fly Club. Since the scholarship's trustees are dead, the money is now given out by the College itself.

Although it has not been awarded for many years, the scholarship has not been abolished, says Schkolnick, and constitutes a continuing tie. But Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, a member of the all-male Somerset Club located in Boston, says the stipulations of many Harvard scholarships would not be accepted by the University today, although they were not considered to be offensive when they were accepted.

If a Harvard scholarship that singles out final club members as recipients is still awarded, Jewett says it would not be at the expense of others.

"As long as we are able to deal with all the people who have need, we haven't felt we have to cancel awards that were once given in good faith," says Jewett. Jewett says it was "my understanding" that there are "not very many ties" between the University and the clubs.

But students also point to the Fly Club garden, which is partially owned by the University, as evidence that such ties do exist.

"The garden is open to all members of Harvard College at all times," says Ellen Hatfield, who is Epps's personal secretary. She says student groups can call her office to reserve the space and then fill out an application form to use the space.

Nonetheless, some students complain that the University continues to give the Fly Club preferential treatment in the use of the garden. Schkolnick says members of the club have access to the garden at any time, while student groups have to fill out a form and get a key from Epps.

And Schkolnick says Hatfield "has to call the Fly and find out if [there are] conflicts with their activities."

But Hatfield says that her calls to Fly Club are to tell them when events are scheduled, calling them "simply a matter of courtesy." She says the Fly Club uses its own land for functions, not the University's, and "there have been simultaneous events. "A line of trees separates the Fly Club's land from the University property.

Hatfield says that groups such as the Catholic Students Assocation and the International Students Association have used the garden in the past. One organization that will be using the space is SWAT. SWAT plans to hold a fundraiser in the garden this spring and has received permission from the Dean of Students to use the space, says Freeland.

Even if MCAD finds it has jurisdiction over the case and that the clubs are an integral part of Harvard life, it is unclear what the fate of the clubs will be. Schkolnick's complaint is against only one of the clubs, although she has said she will take on all the clubs, if necessary. And a lot hinges on the clubs themselves.

Many club members, as well as anti-club activists, say the clubs will eventually become co-educational institutions or face extinction. But many say the change will never be voluntary.

"It will be a cold day in Bangladesh before [the opening of the clubs to women] happens voluntarily," says Zubrensky. Zubrensky says he became inactive in his club after recent judicial rulings made him realize that all-male social clubs have no future.

"We have entered a new era with respect to the law's tolerance," Zubrensky says, adding that final clubs are unconstitutional. Last year a New Jersey court ruled in favor of Sally Frank, a former Princeton student who filed suit against the school's all-male eating clubs.

Calling the clubs "dinosaurs whose extinction is at hand," Professor of Law Alan Dershowitz says that very few universities have had as shameful a role as Harvard. He called on the faculty to stop attending club events and says he hopes the clubs will become coeducational on their own.

Agrees Parsons, "I do believe the clubs ought to adapt or go extinct."