Harvard Cracks Down on Single-Gender Clubs, Greek Groups

Cambridge, MA - In the wake of a university investigation into campus sexual assault, Harvard University is imposing restrictions on members of single-gender social clubs, including certain Greek organizations.

The issue attracted national attention to the Cambridge university earlier this year, when an alumni leader of one men-only group offered a controversial defense of the private club's reasons not to go co-ed. Charles Storey, who is also head of Boston's Harpoon Brewery, later apologized and stepped down from his role with the storied Porcellian Club.

But Harvard President Drew Faust has been grappling with the issue long before the Porcellian Club's push-back.

In a long-anticipated decision shared with undergraduates in a letter Friday, she introduced a new policy, based on recommendations by a campus task force on sexual assault.

Although Faust did not go so far as to prohibit students from joining such groups, she wrote, she strongly discourages joining "unrecognized social organizations that retain discriminatory membership policies."

The official policy on discouraging that activity comes to this: Starting in 2017, students who participate in such organizations will not be eligible for Dean's endorsement letters or related fellowships, and will be banned from being captains of athletic teams or holding other leadership positions in school-sanctioned student groups.

"Captains of intercollegiate sports teams and leaders of organizations funded, sponsored, or recognized by Harvard College in a very real sense represent the College. They benefit from its resources. They operate under its name," wrote Faust. "Especially as it seeks to break down structural barriers to an effectively inclusive campus, the College is right to ensure that the areas in which it provides resources and endorsement advance and reinforce its values of non-discrimination."

Read more from the Harvard Crimson here.

>> Photo courtesy Ross M Karchner through Flickr/Creative Commons

Patch has corrected an error in an earlier edition of this story, including the headline. Please note the president's ruling applies to all unrecognized single-gender groups.