Final Clubs On a Short Leash

In April of 1998, graduate members of the Phoenix S.K. final club heard a nasty rumor. Undergraduate members, it seemed, had planned a party without telling them.

So, to protect their own legal liability and to teach undergraduates a lesson, a handful of graduate members made an unscheduled stop by the club just before the party. And stayed.

At one point, 200 people had gathered outside the club, located at 72 Mt. Auburn St. But with the graduates inside, the doors stayed closed.

It was one of the most direct confrontations in an ongoing building of tensions between undergraduates and graduate board members in many of the eight all-male final clubs.

The graduate boards' motivation extends beyond a desire to keep with tradition. Alumni, aware of the liabilities associated with guests and alcohol, want to save themselves as much as the clubs.

But undergraduates in recent years have turned the gentlemen's clubs into institutions more like fraternities at other schools, focusing more on drinking and parties with female non-members.

In the aftermath of a string of club closings to non-members--all at the behest of graduate boards--final club members say a change is coming.

Clubs likely will be forced to return to their original mission or face the fate of the D.U. club, which shut down four years ago after explosive graduate-undergraduate conflict.

Conflict Growing

On Jan. 20, 1999, the A.D. club closed its doors to non-members when the graduate board decided the liability risk of having guests socialize in their club is too high.

In the aftermath of that decision, three other clubs also shut their doors and two others have committed to clamping down on open-party policies.

With the exception of the Porcellian club, which has never held open parties, the A.D. was the first club to bar non-members since the clubs first began to allow visitors over the last two decades.

"I can't point to any particular incident [for why we have been changing]," says Rev. Douglas W. Sears '69, president of the Inter-Club Council (ICC). "This is just a barometer reading that unless we change, there could be problems."

"The grad boards of all the clubs are certainly concerned with prudent management issues," Sears adds. "They have a concerned managerial eye toward the operation."

In early May, after the slew of closings and policy changes seemed to have ceased, the A.D. graduate board locked its doors to undergraduate members, citing a need to renovate the club for the building's 100th anniversary this fall.

Undergraduates said graduates had been displeased with their actions in the club, including irresponsible behavior resulting in club damage.

After a few weeks the graduate board reversed its decision and allowed members inside its doors once more, but during Senior Week the Spee club followed suit and shut down to undergraduates as well.

Members said the graduates made the decision to close because undergraduates had been violating the no guest policy. The graduates, now in town for reunions, wanted to be able to use an orderly club.

Before these two incidents, the last time a club had closed to members was the D.U. club, which disbanded in 1995 after similar kinds of problems.

With comparable conflict, the A.D. and the Spee could be the next clubs to follow the route of the D.U. club, disbanded in 1995.

Early that year, a member had been involved in a violent incident with a football recruit. When D.U. Graduate President Louis I. Kane '53 attempted to implement stricter guest policy rules, the undergraduates refused to comply.

Because of the conflict, the club closed for good. Now the old home of the D.U. on 45 Dunster St. houses the corporate headquarters of Nantucket Nectars.

Mind the Gap

Phoenix S.K. (PSK) graduate president Andrew F. Saxe '87 says active graduate members tend to be in their early 20s or 50s and 60s because men with families have less time to devote to the clubs.

The graduate board, as the elder group, perhaps feels naturally compelled to act as the supervising body, enforcing rules and regulating membership and guest visits in order to protect themselves even if they may be just out of college.

Saxe says the closings have been in the works for at least three years--about the same amount of time as the D.U. closing.

Former PSK member Gregory R. Halpern '99, who left the club because they would not admit women as members, says the graduates and undergraduates were in constant conflict.

"I think there's always pretty consistently tension--like whether there is supposed to be a stereo in the main room," he says.

He says the incident last April showed undergraduates that graduates would be more willing to directly stop them from endangering the club.

"[The graduate members] got there early, and they were sitting inside saying, `I don't think there is a party tonight,'" he says. "No one invited people inside."

Graduate board members say they have become increasingly fed up with undergraduate abuse of the clubs and lack of respect for the buildings.

"There was a lot of damage done to the building last year," Saxe says. "And we're trying to raise money."

Sears says graduate boards understand the importance of their position to the survival of the clubs and attempt to enforce regulations outlined for club members.

"There are guidelines for guests and guidelines for member behavior. Grad boards and the ICC have been trying to ensure these guidelines are observed," he says.

Sears adds that graduates expressed disappointment when they discovered that current members' behavior did not meet the standards they had set based on their own experiences years ago.

"Some clubs looked at the behavior of undergraduate members and found that some were motivated by [the] opportunity to acquire an interest in a function hall and they were not genuinely interested in furthering the fellowship of the club," he says.

Sears concedes this view of undergraduate members may stem from an occluded picture of what the clubs are really like now.

"For whatever reason, there are fewer graduates who are around clubs during everyday times that may not have anything to do with undergraduates," he says. "Clubs have become more of the domain of the undergraduates and their friends."

And with this shift came the feeling from graduates that undergraduates were jeopardizing the clubs they love. So they sent a message this spring with the club closings.

"People realized these are fragile institutions and it takes a lot to keep the club happy," Saxe says. "We have to keep the finances in shape and keep the original purpose of members for members."

Graduates' concerns about the future of clubs as gentlemen's institutions are compounded by the more practical issues of liability which arise when large numbers of non-members flood the club-owned buildings to drink. The clubs can then be liable for injuries or property damage.

"As businesses, the clubs are having problems," Sears says. "They can be dangerous or not dangerous. Looking at the guest policy, how does alcohol fit into the mix?"

Final clubs might not have the same problems if they did not serve alcohol, because most problems with destruction and accidents occur when the people involved are drunk.

But because clubs cannot insure themselves against an illegal activity, like giving liquor to minors, their danger level skyrockets even higher.

Although there is a large endowment and undergraduates pay dues of about $75 a month, Saxe says the student members' money is used for undergraduate events.

According to Sears, insurance expenses are a motivating factor in terms of graduate involvement.

"Graduates will do whatever they can to keep liability issues from arising," he says.

Landlord and Tenants

Undergraduate members for the most part say they understand graduates' concern, but most feel the measures taken this spring were too extreme.

Owl President Jonathan Powers '00 says the relationship between the undergraduates and the graduates can be summed up with a simple analogy.

"They own the house, and we rent," he says.

Even the undergraduates who would like to be able to keep the clubs open to their friends understand the tenuous position of the graduate boards.

"They're in charge of keeping the club running," Powers says. "From a financial standpoint, it will be their asses on the line."

When students throw wild parties and property gets hurt, the graduate boards are responsible for the damage. Many undergraduate members say they understand that liability completely.

"It's not worth taking the risk because even if the prosecution didn't have a case against us, it would require us to pay an enormous amount of money in legal fees," Powers says. "We need graduate board support."

Another club president, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he understands the graduates' concerns with liability but says they are overly concerned.

"The grad board has liability issues even if I do not think the liabilities are as big as they do," he says.

Because of the graduates' complaints about club misuse, some undergraduates have had to work around the new guest policies to hold events.

The Spee club, which has been closed to non-members since April 8, has held its annual Pajama Party in the club at 76 Mt. Auburn St. in the past, but this year, the club had to rent out Club Karma on Landsdowne Street.

Sears says he sees moves like this as a solution to the problem because it takes pressure off the clubs.

"The Spee graduates have been heard in their disapproval of a large party with a large number of guests to which the undergraduates feel entitled," Sears says.

In Undergraduates We Trust?

Because of the monetary stake--as well as pride--the graduates have in their respective clubs, Sears says they will never return to laissez-faire governance again.

"When the undergraduates give their solemn word, the graduates will trust them but seek to verify," he says.

The recent A.D. and Spee closings raise concerns about the state of communication between graduates and undergraduates.

When the A.D. club decided to close its doors to non-members--a huge switch for what many viewed as the most frat-like of the final clubs--some undergraduates were not even aware of the change. And most of those who were expressed unhappiness.

The graduate board's subsequent action, informing members that they were not allowed in the club, suggests that the graduate board disapproved not only of guest actions, but of members' as well.

The Spee closing also demonstrated a lack of trust on the part of the graduates, citing club rule violations for the action.

Although Sears declined to comment on which clubs have faced the most serious problems with communication, he hinted that the A.D. and Spee may not be in top shape.

"The ones that have clamped down are the ones that feel most assuredly that they must do so," Sears says.

Powers says the A.D.'s graduate board proved its faith in members by reopening the club just a few weeks after they barred members. Still, none of the other clubs have focused the blame so directly on its own members.

"[Closing the Owl to non-members] was in no way a reflection on what we were doing in the club," Powers says. "[The grad board] could have easily said, `We're shutting you down.'"

Saxe says the PSK graduate board also has a relatively good relationship with its undergraduates.

"It's undergone some tension because of what's happened," he says. "But do I think there is wholesale cheating? No."

Halpern says he never felt as though the graduates really trusted him or the others in the club--and for good reason.

"A lot went on without them knowing," he says. "We would blatantly ignore their requests."

At parties, Halpern says, very few members would conduct themselves in accordance with ICC rules.

Only the president, or maybe a few of the other undergraduate officers, will take charge and tell students what they can and cannot do, Halpern says.

From the graduate side, Sears says the alumni understand that the undergraduates are not always going to follow the club rules--especially if the regulations cut down on parties.

"Anyone who thinks fun is being curtailed is going to resent that. Finding ways around the system is part of being a student," Sears says. "So undergraduates will continue to try to find ways to do whatever they want to do."

Male Bonding

Powers says introducing the graduates to the undergraduates is vital to the continuation of the club. The Owl's undergraduate officers meet with their graduate board president once a week.

"We try to foster interaction with graduate-undergraduate events," he says. "We sent out a newsletter with pictures of the guys with bios. If you're supporting any venture, you're going to want to know what you're supporting."

Halpern says the undergraduates also look to the graduates for jobs after they graduate, so maintaining relationships is key.

The final club president who asked not to be identified says he also attempts to keep the relations between the undergraduates and graduates civil by increased communication.

He speaks with his graduate board president three times a week.

"If somehow a guest gets into the club, our steward tells him and I need to get to the bottom of it," he said. "I don't think he wants to worry, but I think he does."

The president says that with the recent problems surrounding final clubs, he assumes most graduates have difficulty trusting the students. Yet, he characterizes the relationship as "good as it could be."

"They've never done something without having a meeting and talking with us first," he says.

Members say the strength of the undergraduate-graduate relationship depends on how the graduates view the purpose of the club.

Saxe says he believes the PSK is primarily for the undergraduates.

So he hopes the students will take three things from club life: "a high measure of camaraderie, close friendships and a chance to interact with members from many generations."

Sears, who is also a member of the Fox club's graduate board, says his board also views the club as primarily for undergraduates.

Because of the graduates' faith in the undergraduate members, the Fox was the only club that allows guests that did not change its non-member policy this year.

"The kids get to be responsible, pretty self-regulating," Sears says. "So when [other clubs] put constraints on how members treat the club, [the Fox] didn't feel a need to join the bandwagon."

Sears says the Fox has maintained good relations through following simple, straightforward regulation.

"We have a maximum of two guests--one being male," Sears says. Those are the rules. You don't bring the eight people next to you at the [Crimson Sports] Grille."

D.U. Know

In 1995, Kane and the rest of the D.U. undergraduate and graduate members exemplified the tense relationship that appears to have become more prevalent this past year.

When a football recruit and a member had a violent scuffle one night, that was the final straw for the graduates.

"The grad trustees thought there had been a bad incident in the club," Kane says. "It was a violation of guest policy--he should not have been there."

The graduates decided there were only two possible plans of action.

"Considering what had been going on in the clubs, either we needed a carefully controlled alcohol and guest policy or we need to stop operation," he says. "If undergraduates would not live by basic rules, we would not support a late night drinking club."

Kane says the undergraduates and the graduates spoke a number of times and attempted to come to some sort of agreement, but they never connected.

When the undergraduates voted that they wanted the club to remain the same, the graduate board said no, Kane says.

The club closed completely and merged with the Fly club.

Kane says the Fly's controlled guest policy is vital to running a club in the current Harvard social environment.

"I've made my point clear enough to the presidents of other clubs to the problems with a lax guest policy," Kane says.

The Porc's Beef

A source close to the Porcellian club, the one club that has been on the outside of this whole debate, says his club has been watching the situation unfold.

He says the other clubs have put themselves in a very difficult situation by opening their doors to non-members in the past two decades.

"They'll have a hard time closing their doors," he says. "Such a dramatic change is like letting a genie out of a bottle."

The Porcellian has never seriously considered broadening its guest policy, according to the source, and the recent events reinforce their dedication to keeping the club for members alone.