@Corbett hasn’t the pres. herself expressed a desire to be rid of all those societies and clubs and wasn’t it met with enthusiastic applause at least by the incoming class (see @Questar’s comment #32). What makes you predict that it won’t go beyond the idea stage?
Because the same idea has been kicked around at Ivies and other top universities many times in the past, and has never gotten beyond the idea stage.
In this particular case, note also that:
- the Harvard president may be supportive, but she is also a lame duck (stepping down next year).
- Harvard alumni are more conservative than the incoming students, and vastly outnumber them.
- And the “recommendation” of the faculty committee was in fact the committee’s third choice.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/7/22/inside-social-ban-committee/
A choice which over 2/3 of the committee voted against (since they were free to choose more than one option)
It is not the secret societies they are banning, but any club that is formed to serve Harvard students that discriminate by sex, race, etc. And they aren’t actually banning them, they are going to restrict those who are members from being leaders in any on campus organizations, captains of sports teams, and they cannot get recommendations for grad schools or honors (Fulbright, Rhodes, ed school, etc) from any faculty. A student could join the Boston Black Men’s Chorus, but not the Harvard Only Black Men’s Chorus. A student could join the Knights of Columbus at an area church, but not a chapter that was just for Harvard men. DAR of Boston? Okay. DAR of Harvard? No.
The organizations can ‘cure’ their status by becoming co-ed, multiracial, accepting of all religions. Hasty Pudding is fine because they now allow women, even if those women cannot hold leadership positions. Final clubs went co-ed. The latest faculty vote was to get rid of even those social clubs but currently they are okay.
The four national sororities, which are off campus since Harvard wouldn’t recognize them, cannot go co-ed because their national organizations do not allow it. Some fraternities do allow co-ed chapters (many at Dartmouth tried it but it didn’t work very well), so the men may be able to get around the rule but not the women. What a surprise! The woman who was in a sorority and also captain of the co-ed ski team would no longer be allowed to be the captain. And they are basically requiring the decision to be made as freshmen - join, and you cannot hold leadership positions in the future. Join and you won’t get a letter of recommendation in FOUR years. Who knows who will need those letters four years in the future?
Amherst and Williams had fraternities when they were all male schools. IMO, they didn’t transition well. You can argue the the schools don’t need them, but sororities and fraternities are doing very well at schools like Tufts, MIT, Yale, RPI, WPI. Some women at Harvard obviously thought they’d benefit from them as a decade or so ago, they formed the chapters, paid for them themselves, had no help from Harvard. These women spend their time raising money for Women’s Heart Health, Reading is Fundamental, St. Jude’s hospital. They tutor kids, collect cans for food banks, donate time and money to local organizations
@twoinanddone: your information is a bit dated, specifically when you write . . .
The proposal you are referring to IS NOT being implemented, but a new broader ban is being phased in: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/7/13/new-sanctions/
That’s the new recommendation. I don’t think it was adopted yet.
^^^ According to the Crimson article, the faculty voted for the “new” recommendation OVER the previous ban with the restrictions you cited. Please read the 22-page pdf contained within the article.
Yes, exactly. That’s why this thread was called “Faculty Committee Recommends Social Groups Be “Phased Out”.” We have been discussing the wisdom and effect of the recommended, as-yet-unadopted policy.
Just a reminder: “the faculty” = 7 people aka less than 1/3 of the committee (which also included students and admin)
I’m a bit confused. Top students are elected to Phi Beta Kappa upon graduation from college, right? Am I missing something?
@SwimDad99 you are invited usually spring of senior year, although a few are invited in junior year.
24 are invited the Spring of junior year, 48 in November of senior year, and an additional ~96 in May of senior year, with the total limited to 10% of the graduating class.
Phi Beta Kappa wouldn’t be included in the ban. It is not a social group and it is co-ed. I’m sure other honor societies that have Greek letters but are there for English, History, engineering, etc are fine too.
I’ve read it and I’ve been following it. The change was announced over a year ago to go into effect for students entering Fall 2017, and to give time for groups to modify membership requirements and perhaps get into the good graces of the administration. No groups have been closed, and no current member of any organizations have been ban from leadership positions or getting grad school recommendations. In fact, the current members are grandfathered in so they can remain members of their social groups with no penalty.
It is my opinion that this edict didn’t go over well, so the administration sent it to the committee hoping for a compromise and the faculty went the other way, giving the recommendation that the change should be more strict and ban all social groups. We don’t know if the new president will adopt the recommendation of the faculty group or throw it all out.