The Latest From Harvard

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com

On March 1^st, the Harvard Crimson¹ reported that Harvard College’s Administrative Board will enforce the College’s single gender social policy and the penalties to be imposed under it.  According to the article, the sanctions to be imposed are “not yet fully finalized … the College will formally request that the sanctions be incorporated in the Harvard College Student Handbook.  This means the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will need to formally vote to accept or reject the penalties as part of the Handbook.”

The article goes on to report that there have been several reversals from prior positions taken by administrators of the College.  From statements by the Dean of Students and the Assistant Dean of Student Life, the Crimson article reports that “contradicting previous proposals – the college will not require students to sign a pledge affirming their compliance with the policies; will not mandate the social group’s publish demographic breakdowns of their memberships; and will not offer a transitional program for all-female social groups.”

So, the controversy and uncertainty among Harvard’s plans to restrict single-sex finals clubs or Greek organizations, by prohibiting their members from being captains on athletic teams or leading student organizations, or from receiving necessary support for major scholarships like Fulbright, remains an active controversy and uncertainty continues.

1 Harvard Crimson, Ad Board will enforce sanction under college’s final plan, by Caroline S. Engelmayer and Michael E. Xie.