Final club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A final club (commonly mispronounced "finals club") is an all-male undergraduate social club at Harvard College. There are currently eight such clubs at Harvard. The clubs are Fox (44-46 John F. Kennedy St.),[1] Spee (76 Mt Auburn St),[1] Owl (30 Holyoke St)[citation needed], Delphic (9 Linden St),[1] A.D. (1 Plympton St.)[citation needed], Fly (2 Holyoke Pl.)[2], Phoenix-SK (72 Mt Auburn St),[1] and Porcellian (1324 Mass Ave)[citation needed]; all were established a century or more in the past. Four female clubs exist, similar to the male final clubs, and are called the Bee, the Isis, the Sabliere Society, and the Pleiades; the Bee was founded in 1991 and stands as the oldest female final club at Harvard. Isis was founded in 2000, followed by Sabliere and Pleiades. All of the male clubs have privately-owned club houses in which they have resided for decades, each of which include amenities such as dining halls, private chefs, libraries, game rooms with billiards and ping pong, bedrooms and lounges. The clubs are assessed from $1.3 (Phoenix Club) to $3.6 million (A.D. Club), according to the City of Cambridge Property Database. The Bee Club rents space at 45 Dunster Street. Isis, the Sabliere Society and the Pleiades do not currently have spaces.
Most of the final clubs do not provide housing to their members who have not graduated yet, nor are they affiliated with national organizations (anymore, that is — the Spee began its life as Zeta Psi and the A.D. and Fly as Alpha Delta Phi; other remnants remain as well). Long affiliated with and supported by Harvard, the male final clubs were ordered in 1984 to either go coeducational or go private. The clubs privatized and since then have maintained themselves beyond university regulation.
Historically, there was more differentiation among the clubs. Harvard College freshmen hoped to join the Hasty Pudding social club. Going into their senior year, aspiring students hoped to join either the A.D. or Porcellian, the original two final clubs. In the interim, their hope was to gain admittance to one of the "waiting clubs," as the other clubs were known.
Each fall the clubs hold "punch season," which is similar to the rush period for fraternities. Select sophomores and juniors are invited to a series of four social events. After each event, fewer and fewer prospective members, or "punches" are invited back. After the last event, called "final dinner", a club will elect a handful of new members who then choose among the clubs they have been asked to join. Being "punched" refers to receiving an invitation to the first punch event. Once the punch process has begun, the verb "to punch" can also refer to a prospective member's attending of the events, e.g. "Barnaby is punching the Fox and the Owl."
The clubs have an undergraduate membership of around sixty a piece, amounting to nearly 20% of the eligible (2nd semester of sophomore year and older) male undergraduates and 5% of eligible female undergraduates. The clubs have varying restrictions on exclusivity. Some final clubs often hold parties and open their doors to women and male guests of members. Others, like the A.D., have only in recent history opened their doors to female guests of members and still do not allow male guests. Still others, like the Porcellian, never allow non-members in -- in the Porcellian's case, this means that they never allow non-members past a small room by the entrance called "the bicycle room."
Contents |
[edit] Controversy
Male final clubs have long been a point of controversy at Harvard because of what many see as their elitist nature. They do not allow women as members, and some clubs have historical traditions that make them more of a reflection of Harvard's past than its present: predominantly white, wealthy and Protestant. In recent years, of course, the clubs have all become increasingly diverse in these areas, but some still believe them to hold residue of the past. As a result, final clubs are a point of controversy at Harvard College, eliciting protests from some concerned with equality and anti-elitism. Such controversy has included protests and boycotts, as well as yearly debate in the student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, that tends to come around punch season. The clubs, however, weather the protests and debate both because they are private institutions not accountable to student opinion or the administration's anti-discrimination policies and their promise of social ranking and professional connections are highly coveted.
One interesting component of the debate is the rise of a significant fraternity and sorority presence at Harvard. In a short period of time, three female final clubs (The Bee, Isis and The Sablière Society), four fraternities (Sigma Chi, PIKE, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Epsilon Pi), three sororities (Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Gamma, and Kappa Alpha Theta), and two additional all female organizations (The Seneca and The Pleiades) have greatly expanded the presence of formal social organizations at the College. Though Harvard recognizes none of these groups, informal estimates suggest that up to 800 students of the college (one eighth) belong to single-sex social clubs. However, many would make distinctions — especially between male and female final clubs and their Greek counterparts — because are perceived as, and may be, more elitist in their practices; both in terms of the attitude they bring to their membership in the clubs, the extravagance of the spaces they enjoy, and the culture of wealth many of them come from and support.
Detractors from the all-male social organizations often ignore other single-sex social clubs in presenting their critique. They attribute this to their lack of social space. Recently, however, Sigma Chi, The Bee, and The Seneca have all obtained property in Harvard Square. While Sigma Chi throws public parties, The Bee has so far used its space primarily for internal socializing. It is unclear how each space will develop, and whether or not they will become the focus of social attention similar to their male counterparts.
[edit] Political Backlash
In January of 2006 national attention focused on the Harvard Final Club system as a result of the confirmation hearings of Samuel Alito. Alito came under criticism as a result of his membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton, a conservative group that opposed the admission of women and minorities into Princeton. One of the leading Democrats of this charge was Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy. Conservatives, however, responded by pointing out Kennedy's membership in the Owl Club. As a result of the political fall out, Senator Kennedy chose to leave the club.
In August of that same year, Massachusetts Democratic Gubinatorial candidate Deval Patrick came under fire for his membership in the Fly Club. Critics viewed Patrick's membership in the club as contradictory to his image as a champion of civil rights. Patrick countered that he had left the club in the early 80s, although the club itself had Patick's name on its roster as late as 2006. Patrick himself said that he left the club in the early 80s when he realized that it contradicted his values.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Cambridge Historical Commission (2001): City of Cambridge, Landmarks and Other Protected Properties[1]
- ^ http://www.ci.cambridge.ma.us/govt/council00/001204calendar.html
