Owl Grad. Board Closes Club to Members

After a week of donning silly outfits and singing the Backstreet Boys' love ballad "I Want it That Way" to gawking crowds in front of the Science Center, the initiates of the Owl final club were ready for their initiation party Saturday night.

But early Saturday, Owl President Jonathan Powers '00 received an e-mail message from Graduate Board President John W. Boynton '88 saying that the club was shut to members effective that morning.

Boynton wrote that the club would convene Tuesday evening to discuss the matter, but for now members are not allowed in the building.

A surprised Powers forwarded the message on to the club and told them the party was off.

John E. Mazza '02, one of the Owl punches prepared to let loose Saturday night, said they had little warning of the closure before the e-mail.

"There was nothing I could see over the course of initiation," he said. "I'm unsure of the main reasons. I know it's from some misunderstanding between the undergraduates and the graduate board."

Both initiates and seasoned club members were confused about why the club shut its doors.

"I don't really know much," Benjamin M. Green '00 said. "They just closed it."

Even undergraduate club officers have been left out of the loop.

"I'm the president and I don't even know," Powers said. "[Boynton] just said there are several things we need to talk about."

"It's kind of a new time for the club because a lot of things are changing. We decided to take a breather," he added.

Owl Treasurer Ryan G. Schaffer '00 also said the graduate board has not given any solid indication of their motivation.

"It's been a lot of things building up, not a single event or anything," he said.

Since February of this year, the Owl club has had restrictions against any non-members in the club because of liability worries.

At the time, members said they hoped the club could return to its original policy. But with the graduate board moving the club in the opposite direction, that seems less likely.

Members remain hopeful that the absolute shutdown will be temporary.

"We'll definitely have [an initiation] party at some point," Green said. "It's just kind of a bummer at this point."

The Owl is the third club in eight months to have closed its doors to members.

After the A.D. led the pack in changing its guest policy to members-only last semester, the club shut entirely for the month of May to ensure that undergraduates would not disrupt renovations underway for the club's centennial.

The Spee club followed suit over Commencement, when the alumni decided the graduating student members would not act responsibly during that period.

Before May, the only club to have ever closed to members was the D.U. club, which subsequently disbanded in 1995 after worsening undergraduate-graduate relations.

Rev. Douglas W. Sears '69, president of the Inter-club Council (ICC), said Boynton has not notified him or other club presidents about the shutdown.

The ICC met prior to the punch process this fall and will not meet again until January, but Sears said he applauds any club attempting to improve management.

"I would say the Inter-club Council suggests certain guidelines, and it's the prerogative of each club to run its own shop," Sears said. "It's a sign of health if the graduates are concerned."

Boynton could not be reached for comment yesterday.