Harvard Club Accepts 'Cliffe

The Harvard-Radcliffe ratio in the Harvard Club of Boston was reduced from infinity to one to 74 to one, when the Club voted to grant 50 members of the Radcliffe Club of Boston attendance at all club functions to which women are normally invited. This has long been the case in Harvard Clubs in most cities.

At present, seven Radcliffe Club women have been approved for club privileges, which leaves a potential 43 openings, first come, first served.

Mrs. Mary Rossiter '34, president of the Radcliffe Club of Boston, was unable to give any specific reasons for this sudden surge for women's rights. She said that in February, 1955, some of the club members, "just thought that they would like to go to the Harvard Club and suggested that they be invited."

Constitutional Sanction

In the past, the constitution of the Harvard Club provided that any lady having "Harvard affiliations" could have club privileges, but, as Alden H. MacIntyre, '21 pointed out, "The Radcliffe Club never raised the point. Perhaps they wanted the privileges now that Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges are so close scholastically."

Before becoming eligible for privileges, a Radcliffe Club member must be passed by a special admissions committee which has as its upper limit for acceptance 50 'Cliffe graduates.

A possible difficulty arises here, for it is conceivable that some of the prospective may have Yale husbands. According to MacIntyre, this would make no difference because the upper limit of fifty assures that "there is not danger of them overrunning the club."

The Harvard Club, at present, has a membership of 3,700.