Owl Bars Doors to Non-Members

The Owl final club decided last week to indefinitely bar non-members from entering the club, Owl members said yesterday.

The club has shut out non-members since the beginning of the month while it debated whether to permanently close its doors to visitors.

"Right now it's no longer temporary. It's an official rule change," Owl librarian Jonathan Powers '00 said.

Powers said the club will make exceptions for family members and for guests during a handful of sanctioned parties such as the annual Pudding and Christmas Dinners.

The Owl will also continue to throw its annual Luau, one of the most popular annual final club-sponsored events, although "it won't be as big as last year," Powers said.

As with the A.D. and Phoenix S.K. final clubs, which have also recently decided to bar non-members, fear of liability issues prompted the policy change, Owl members said.

Shortly after the A.D. decided to bar non-members Jan. 20, Duffell said he did not think the Owl would follow suit.

"I don't think [a policy change] is going to happen," Duffell said then. "I spoke to our grad board president and he didn't seem too enthused [about changing the policy]."

But at its biannual policy meeting Jan. 27, the graduate board voted to temporarily shut out guests. Students and graduates met on Feb. 5, but Powers said they were unable to formulate a policy that protected the club while still allowing regular guests.

"We tried to reach a compromise," Powers said. "We wanted to include guests, but we couldn't come up with anything feasible."

Members said they are unhappy about extending the policy. "I think it sucks," Owl member Matthew E. Buhts '00 said.

Though he wishes visitors could be allowed to the club, Powers said he supports the graduate board's decision.

"I don't agree with it, but I understand why it had to be done. I'm not fighting it," Powers said. "You can't go half way with these things."

Powers added that restrictions on non-members will have positive side effects. With more emphasis on intraclub events, he said relations between graduates and students will be improved.

The policy could also have financial benefits. The club will no longer need to spend money on non-members, and more graduates may be willing to donate money because of the reduced liability risk, Powers said.

Some members believe the extension of the policy change will not be permanent.

"If the grad board sees that we can control ourselves, it can definitely get back to what it was," Owl member Benjamin M. Green '00 said.

Inter-Club Council President Rev. Douglas W. Sears '69 said restricting access to the clubs is sensible.

"Prudent management--not exclusivity--dictates that they should be private," he said. "Some of the management issues in the 1990s necessitate each club look at how it functions."

The policy changes are sure to be discussed at the council's ICC's quarterly meeting this Thursday, Sears said.

"It's going to be an opportunity for grad presidents of clubs that have modified their policies to talk," he said.

Owl graduate president John W. Boynton '88 declined to comment.