Pi Eta Club Goes Dormant After Sordid History

The Pi Eta Speakers Club is defunct after more than 90 years of existence, although its leadership has repeatedly asserted that the club is not closed permanently.

The Pi Eta, an all-male social club which has been the object of repeated allegations of sexual misconduct in recent years, has been "temporarily closed" for more than a year.

And members said this week that they have no reason to believe the club will reopen anytime soon.

"Pi Eta?" said Robb Y. Hirsch '93. "That's not happening any more."

"When [the club] was shut down we were under the impression it was for good, or at least for as long as we were here," Hirsch said.

Other members, who requested anonymity, echoed Hirsch's remarks, saying that in more than a year they have had no contact with the graduate board that governs the club.

Members also said that they never use the Pi Eta's 45 Mount Auburn building and that their keys no longer open the door.

Contacted this week, Graduate President Stephen P. Endlar '56 acknowledged for the first time that the club is temporarily closed, but he denied that the club was closed for good.

"There's nothing to write about," Endlar said. "There's no decision. "It's status quo."

Jeffrey Wood '93, who was an officer at large of the club last year when it was closed, said at the time he was confident the club would re-open "soon."

"I don't know the reason for the delay," Wood said this week. "You'll have to ask Steve Endlar about that."

Asked whether he has had any contact with the graduate board, Wood declined to comment, saying, "It's a complicated thing."

Like Harvard's nine all-male final clubs, the Pi Eta consists entirely of male undergraduates and is not officially recognized by the College. However, it is not associated with the Inter-Club Council, which governs the final clubs.

In April of 1991, the club settled out of court with a woman who said she was raped at the club in 1988.

The woman, a former Northeastern University student, dropped her lawsuit against the club for an undisclosed sum of money two weeks before her case was slated to go to trial.

The agreement to avoid a public trial came as a growing number of news organizations, including CBS News, moved towards covering the suit.

Last year, several members of the club said the lawsuit and the club's closure were directly related.

The Pi Eta Society, founded in 1866, began as a literary and theatrical organization similar to the Hasty Pudding. In the 1970s, the Pi merged with the Speaker's Club to form the present organization.

The Massachusetts secretary of state' office lists the Pi Eta Speaker's Associates as a corporation founded in 1895. For most of its history, the Pi was headquartered on Kirkland Street at the present location of Grendel's Den restaurant and bar.

The club later moved to 45 Mt. Auburn St., a building it still owns. It rentsapartments at the top of the building.

Harvard broke ties with the Pi Eta and thefinal clubs in 1984, when the organizationsrefused to admit women.

Jeremiah J. Bresnahan '57, who is listed withthe state as the Pi Eta's clerk, refused tocomment last week on the club's future

Harvard broke ties with the Pi Eta and thefinal clubs in 1984, when the organizationsrefused to admit women.

Jeremiah J. Bresnahan '57, who is listed withthe state as the Pi Eta's clerk, refused tocomment last week on the club's future