Spee Grad Board Bans Students From Building

An orange card taped above the lock on the door of 76 Mt. Auburn St. is the latest example of recent tensions between undergraduate and graduate members of Harvard's all-male final clubs.

The handwritten notice at the Spee Club reads "Clubhouse Closed (Locks Changed)."

At the end of last week, Spee undergraduate members received an e-mail message informing them that the graduate board does not want any students--including them--to enter the club for the time being.

According to a current Spee member, the graduates took the action to reinforce a no-guest policy implemented April 8.

"Basically, we have a rule, a no-guest policy," he said. "The graduates caught some of the seniors violating the rules pretty badly."

As alumni are returning to campus for reunions and their children's graduations, "you've got a lot of grads who want to come over, and they don't want the club to be trashed," the member said.

The club's closing effectively keeps students outside the building for the rest of Senior Week except for a graduate reception and senior brunch, which are still scheduled to go on as planned.

The card on the door says the Spee remains open to graduates during the club steward's hours, Monday through Thursday.

The member said he believes the graduates will reverse the policy after Commencement.

"They're sort of like 'That's it for this year,'" he said. "But everything is going to be normal in a week."

Spee Graduate Board President Frederick C. Childs '79 declined to comment on the closing.

John W. Sears '52, a former Spee trustee, said the graduates have not been informed of the change yet.

He said he was unsure of why the graduates would restrict the undergraduates beyond barring guests, but policy violations may have played a role.

"The boys had run a party after the graduates told them not to," Sears said. "If that's [what motivated the closing], I am in [Child's] corner."

Rev. Douglas W. Sears '69, president of the Inter-Club Council (ICC), said he learned of the club's closing last night when he bumped into a graduate board member.

"It was presented in the context that they want to get through graduation without any problems," he said.

At the time of the graduate board's decision earlier this spring to close the club to visitors, Spee President Paul M. Goldschmid '00 said the change was necessary in the current final club environment.

"The students agreed that [no guests] would be the best idea until we come up with a new plan," Goldschmid said.

The Spee graduate board's move comes on the heels of the A.D. club graduate board's decision to close the club temporarily to undergraduate members last month.

At the beginning of May, A.D. alumni locked out members for a few weeks while the club underwent renovations in preparation for the building's 100th anniversary this fall.

Undergraduate members said they had not kept the club "clean" and participated in behavior that resulted in minor damage to the club building.

The closings at both the A.D. and Spee clubs accentuate the growing tensions between graduates and undergraduates in the unofficial social organizations.

Prior to the A.D. incident in May, the lastclub to close to members was the D.U. club, whichshut down in 1995 after graduates andundergraduates could not agree on guest andalcohol policies.

Regardless of the recent closings, Rev. Searssaid he does not see the practice as a trend, butrather a means to a "managerial objective."

The shift from simply closing to guests to nowtemporarily shutting doors to members is a productof the undergraduates' general disrespect for theclub buildings, according to Rev. Sears.

With the guests out of the clubs, at least intheory, the damage should have stopped. But Rev.Sears said many clubs still have the sameproblems--even without visitors.

"By practice of elimination, they scrutinizedtheir own actions more closely," Rev. Sears said."[The undergraduates' attitude] is somethingpeople should have gotten out of their system inmiddle school but didn't."

Rev. Sears said the ICC plans to meet thissummer to devise solutions to the recent problemsother than "just closing things.

Prior to the A.D. incident in May, the lastclub to close to members was the D.U. club, whichshut down in 1995 after graduates andundergraduates could not agree on guest andalcohol policies.

Regardless of the recent closings, Rev. Searssaid he does not see the practice as a trend, butrather a means to a "managerial objective."

The shift from simply closing to guests to nowtemporarily shutting doors to members is a productof the undergraduates' general disrespect for theclub buildings, according to Rev. Sears.

With the guests out of the clubs, at least intheory, the damage should have stopped. But Rev.Sears said many clubs still have the sameproblems--even without visitors.

"By practice of elimination, they scrutinizedtheir own actions more closely," Rev. Sears said."[The undergraduates' attitude] is somethingpeople should have gotten out of their system inmiddle school but didn't."

Rev. Sears said the ICC plans to meet thissummer to devise solutions to the recent problemsother than "just closing things.