Boycott the Clubs

NOW that the Undergraduate Council has finally taken a step in the right direction with a resolution calling for final clubs to "voluntarily" alter their nature," we must ask how far they, and all students, are willing to go.

The very fact that the council passed a statement, albeit a very toned-down version of previous attempts, by such an overwhelming margin as 64-19, demonstrates that it may now be more active on issues that concern students. The council is planning to print brochures about the clubs, but should continue pushing forward with this issue to prove its newly active stance.

Little, if anything, will change in the final club situation because of the council's statement, which comes so long after the peak of debate last spring. It is past the time for mere discussion and statements. After months of debate on the morality of exclusive, all-male clubs on a campus that loudly touts its diversity, most students have made up their minds about whether they believe the clubs should admit women. Those who do, including the council, should demonstrate this belief, literally.

WHAT would the final clubs do if they threw parties and no one came, or held punches for new members and none of the candidates showed up? A campus-wide boycott of final clubs--their parties and punches--would send a much more effective message than did the council's statement, which one council member said final club members would probably use "to throw darts at."

Organized pickets or demonstrations may only annoy the members and consolidate their resolve to remain exclusionary. But a boycott could stop the clubs in their sexist tracks. No members, no money; no parties, no bimbo bashes, no fun. A boycott would send the clubs a message: "You want to be exclusive, go ahead, but you do it alone. We came to Harvard to learn from each other."

This ought to be a plan within the capabilities of the council. The council has the resources for publicity and the organization to gather support in each house. A boycott of the final clubs would be a truly active stand of which the Council could be proud.