Pi Eta

To the Editors of The Crimson:

The past week's events at the Pi Eta Club have again drawn attention to an aspect of life at this University that should concern us.

The various social clubs on campus do not always send a quarter of their initiates to the hospital with alcohol overdoses, but they do help to perpetuate a number of undesirable attitudes. These selective, all-male clubs are remnants of an age when Harvard and Radcliffe were segregated admission to the Houses was selective, and awareness of women's and minorities rights was minimal. In their present form the clubs indirectly foster social divisions rather than minimize them. Many of the clubs make contributions to campus life, but their negative aspects frequently outweigh their contributions. It doesn't have to be that way.

Other Ivy League schools have responded to changing times by altering of at least discussing their outdated social instutions. Most of Princeton's Eating Clubs open are now, like Harvard's Hasty Pudding Club open to all undergraduates. The President of Dartmouth has called for sweeping reforms in the fraternities on that campus and has gone so far as to call for their eventual break-up. It is now time for the Harvard Radcliffe student body to seriously discuss the appropriateness of the present kind of finals clubs on campus, and for publications like The Crimson to impartially explore these issues.

As students many of as take pride in participating in a community recognized for its contribution to independent thinking and its encouragement of diversity. Yet if we are to share this satisfaction we must also share its responsibilities and withdraw our tacit sanctioning of organizations whose structure stands in contradiction to these principles. It is not possible to ignore association with groups whose membership is drawn from our community this would deny that our opinions and actions have an effect on our friends. We should not fail to acknowledge that the inherent values fostered with these clubs out-live our four years as undergraduates. Geoffrey Bok '84   Renata Villers '85   Stephen Selipsky '85