Going Greek: Frats Seek Harvard Foothold

In their heyday, fraternities exercised major presence in Harvard's social life as progenitors to today's final clubs. A century before Lisa J. Schkolnick '88 filed her complaint against the Fly Club, that club was an affiliate of the national Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, which also spawned the A.D. Club.

But times have changed, and the ties that bound have come unraveled. The Harvard chapters broke away from the national organizations in the early part of this century--1907 in the case of the Fly--and some formed their own clubs.

Now, several of those fraternities are making a comeback, saying they want to reestablish a presence in Harvard's social life. But this time that presence will be without any links to the clubs. Encouraged by charges that the clubs are exclusive and detrimental to mainstream social life, the fraternities are seeking to sell themselves as friendly alternatives.

Since Schkolnick's complaint against the Fly Club was filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination in December, the nine clubs have become the focus of a debate over the role of single-sex institutions at Harvard. Schkolnick's case has made prominent the defects in Harvard social life, many students say. They say that the houses do not provide enough activities to satisfy them, and they need to seek an alternative. Until now, the primary alternative has been the final clubs.

Another alternative is the fraternities. These organizations--which include Zeta Psi and Alpha Delta Phi--portray themselves as small, quiet fraternities with deep historic roots. All say they are not drinking clubs or business networks--descriptions often used to characterize the final clubs. "Their exclusive activities are what we don't want," says Zeta Psi pledge Daniel Ramos '91 of the clubs. "Our activities will be open to everyone."

The clubs differ, however, on the critical issue of whom they plan to admit. Zeta Psi is all male, while Alpha Delta Phi pledges to allow both men and women to join as members. Two freshman females are also trying to start a sorority.

But whatever they do, fraternities and sororities are not likely to receive much support from the University's administration. In addition to prohibiting any campus group from discriminating on the basis of sex, the University bars official student groups from being affiliated with a national organization, says Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III.

"The success of our extracurricular life is that undergraduates run their own life," Epps says, adding, "that's also why we have the rule that graduate students cannot be officers of undergraduate organizations."

Calling the rules "extremely important to the vitality of life at Harvard," Epps says they give students an opportunity to learn for themselves how to run organizations.

But Assistant Dean for the House System Thomas A. Dingman '67, who was contacted by both the Brown chapter of A.D. Phi and the school's director of residential life, says he would be willing to work with fraternity groups, provided they do not interfere with the house system. "I would love to cooperate," says Dingman, who says he is not sure what the University rules on fraternities are.

But Dingman says he is skeptical of a fraternity that would be a residential unit--a dimension none of the fraternities say they are contemplating. Saying that the house system is successful, Dingman adds that it is "hard to be enthusiastic about [the prospect of] residential fraternities coming in." He says he goes to many meetings at other colleges, and "often times what I hear is 'you're so lucky you don't have fraternities.'"

Harvard's fears come in the wake of increasing drinking-related fatalities at fraternity houses nationwide. Last year Zeta Psi's Stanford chapter voluntarily disbanded when a member of the fraternity died after a rush event, says Joseph M. Pisano, an assistant dean of student affairs and the fraternal affairs advisor at the Palo Alto school. In the 1970s, Pisano says, the chapter had lost recognition from the university because of hazing practices but regained official status several years ago.

M. Lauck Walton, executive director of Zeta Psi's international headquarters, says Zeta Psi hopes to return to Stanford after the students who were involved in the event graduate. "The idea is that a whole group of Stanford students go through Stanford without knowing anything about Zeta Psi. We want to start with a positive image."

"I don't think Zeta Psi's national organization has any responsibility at all," he says, adding, "it is extremely rare to have to reprimand a chapter."

Even if Harvard's administration continues to be wary of the groups, many say they do not believe a lack of recognition is likely to hurt their organizations.

"I don't think we give a damn," says Robert S. Price, director of Alpha Delta Phi's financial arm, adding student interest will be key to establishing a successful chapter. "My reaction is, 'let's see.'"

"The final clubs aren't official either, but they do very well," says Schkolnick. And Alisa-Joy Land '91, who is trying to start a Harvard sorority, says her group is "not at all trying to go against school policy," although she says the University is not likely to recognize her group.

The situation is not that unusual, say those involved with Zeta Psi and A.D. Phi. Walton says his group has several chapters that are not affiliated and points to Princeton. "It's one of our top chapters," says Walton, adding that last year the branch won one of the fraternity's three most outstanding chapter awards.

The Princeton chapter, like Harvard's, is not affiliated with the university and has no meeting house or living space. Whitney S. Terrell, president of the Princeton Zeta Psi, says the chapter is one of five or six "underground" fraternities at the school. He says his fraternity was begun five years ago and has around 40 members.

Like Harvard's chapter, members of the Princeton group hold weekly meetings, participate in events with other chapters and do community service. Terrell says the chapter has a blood drive every semester.

"It has worked out relatively well," says Terrell, adding that the chapter has had no problems with the lack of formal ties. He says that since most upperclass males eat at eating clubs, freshmen and upperclassmen have little chance to get to know each other. "The fraternity serves in an effective way to bridge that gap," Terrell says.

Officials at A.D. Phi also say they foresee no problems with the lack of recognition. They say the setup at Connecticut's Trinity College is much the same and has worked well there. If the chapter is effective, Price says his organization might be willing to fund space for meetings, a small library and possibly some computer terminals.

Three years ago, the national headquarters of Zeta Psi--a small fraternity with chapters at Tufts and MIT--decided to reestablish a Harvard chapter and recruited students who are now seniors. But efforts were not kept up, and it wasn't until the group faced extinction that the national organization returned to Harvard to seek new pledges.

Already, Zeta Psi has attracted about 20 freshman pledges, who will be intitiated this spring, says Walton.

Members of five coed chapters of Alpha Delta Phi, a literary fraternity that is one of the oldest in the country, are also now trying to interest Harvard undergraduates in starting a chapter at Harvard. The effort is being spearheaded by several students at Brown University who say they would like to have another strong chapter close by. A Harvard chapter would accept both male and female members and would follow the fraternity's literary tradition, says Brown student Pamela Coukos.

So far, the fraternity has attracted only one Harvard undergraduate and a transfer student from Brown who pledged the fraternity there but has not been initiated, Coukos says. The group hopes to attract further interest at its first meeting next week.

Land says she and her roommate Laurie C. Throne '91 hope to get a sorority started sometime next year. There are currently no sororities at Harvard, although a Black group at MIT has recruited Harvard students for several years.

The two freshmen are currently looking for a national sorority that would back the effort.

"It's partially a response to the issue of the final clubs and the suing," says Land. She says the final clubs exist for men, but women's groups are "an untapped resource."

Land acknowledges current Radcliffe women's groups but says they are not as community-oriented as the sorority would be. She says the group would not be elitist, like the clubs, but a place for women to share their concerns.

The freshman says national affiliation would provide "a certain degree of structure, plus a nationally recognized name." Land says she is in contact with several sororities, including Kappa Alpha Theta and the "TriDelts."

Land's sorority might be the first in Harvard history, but many fraternities used to have chapters here. These fraternities became obsolete after the creation of the house system, which was designed to assume the social functions of the fraternities. The Faculty voted in the early part of the century ban fraternities, many of which became final or waiting clubs, says Epps.

The first Harvard chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi--which would become the A.D. Club--was founded in 1837 as a literary society by members of Harvardiana, a defunct publication, says Price.

"They had a room in Holyoke St. and a reading room," Price says, adding that the chapter now being organized would be much the same. In 1865, the chapter split with the fraternity and became the A.D. Club.

Later the fraternity established a second chapter, which was to become the Fly Club. Efforts are not being made by Alpha Delta Phi to contact either of the two clubs, according to W. Douglas Bond, who is acting as an alumni adviser to the Brown group.

Zeta Psi also had a chapter at Harvard from the 1850s until the 1880s, Walton says. Zeta Psi attempted a comeback in 1985, but after successfully pledging a group of undergraduates, the organization failed to add to its ranks. This time, the group has not asked for sanction from the administration because of hostility three years ago, says Walton.

And Coukos says her group has not received any response to letters it sent to President Bok, Epps and Dingman.

Brown member Andrew E. Wetzler says the group sent out the letter because Epps was "uncommunicative." He says A.D. Phi hopes to be on friendly terms with Harvard administration. And Coukos says the five coed chapters will have officials at their universities write recommendation letters for the fraternity.

Alpha Delta Phi is also trying to establish a chapter at Yale and is working out the purchase of a house for the fraternity there, Price says. The fraternity would be all-male. In 1935 Yale's original chapter resigned from the fraternity because, Price says, "they felt it was inimical to the college system."

Yale's colleges are the equivalent of Harvard's houses, and, "In those days a college was designed to be all that a fraternity is," Price says. He says the fraternity was interested in reestablishing the chapter because the college system "no longer provides the intimacy it was supposed to." Price and members of A.D. Phi's coed chapters say Harvard has the same problems and might equally benefit from an A.D. Phi chapter.

But the fraternity's organizing efforts may have political ramifications that go beyond Harvard. The fraternity's efforts to reopen a chapter at Yale is a project run by the group's headquarters. The Harvard chapter is being organized by students, not by the head office, says Alpha Delta Phi Executive Director William E. Millard.

And because most A.D. Phi chapters are opposed to coed chapters, A.D. Phi International President James T. McCollum says attempts to approve a Harvard chapter could cause a break in the fraternity.

By becoming a coed chapter of the fraternity, some of the major chapters of the national fraternity say they may walk out. An agreement on the books currently prohibits the addition of coed chapters, and calls for the reversion of all coed chapters to all-male status by 1990, McCollum says.

Organizers of the Harvard chapter say they seek to use a coed fraternity here as a bargaining chip to wrest a compromise from an adamant all-male faction, most in the West. McCollum says Harvard may experience difficulty in winning recognition from the national organization.

"We're hoping that the International will want Harvard enough to let it in coed," says Mark R. Chassy, Columbia's liaison with the Harvard chapter.

But the key to the success of the efforts to establish fraternities and sororities at Harvard, members agree, is students. Both groups believe they can contribute to the social atmosphere and believe they can attract the interest of students. Zeta Psi will soon initiate its score of members and hopes to increase the size next year. And A.D. Phi members believe that Harvard students want the kind of outlet that the coed literary group can provide.

Though some students are critical of the effort to establish Greek life at Harvard, others are more enthusiastic.

Members of the Signet, an elite literary society that accepts men and women, said they would not feel threatened by Alpha Delta Phi.

Michael M. Starr '90, a new member of the Signet, says he does not believe the organizations would be rivals because "it's not like [the Signet] is vying for people." He says, "from what I know now, I don't think it would really matter."

Signet member Ellen J. Harvey '89 says the group could be a useful addition to the community. "I always think the more the merrier," says Harvey, adding that she was "sure that people could belong to both." Harvey said she did not believe competition would be a problem.

Schkolnick says that although she would not have a problem with the organizations if they did not discriminate on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity and were not networking groups like the final clubs, the time could be better spent on other projects.

"It would be better if all these people put their energy in getting a student center," Schkolnick says.