College Weighs Acknowledging Final Clubs

A College committee may recommend the adoption of a two-tiered system for student group registration that would formally acknowledge final clubs for the first time in nearly 20 years.

On Tuesday, the student organization subcommittee of the Committee on College Life discussed the proposal, which would modify the current system, where all registered student organizations fall into a single category with the same requirements and benefits.

The plan, which was distributed at Tuesday’s meeting, would create two categories of groups: “recognized” groups and “independent” groups.

Recognized groups would be required to abide by the College’s anti-discrimination policies, have two faculty advisors, submit financial statements and a list of members, and send their president and treasurers to mandatory training sessions. They would be permitted to poster and recruit at the activities fair, use College facilities, and apply for College grants.

Independent groups would only be required to submit a no-hazing agreement and a list of all officers and graduate board members, but they would only be allowed to use House space with the permission of the masters or to hold events in College facilities with department sponsorship.

But a person present at committee meetings, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said Tuesday’s proposal was not in line with his understanding of the subcommittee’s original goals.

“My understanding when the subcommittee was formed was that we were going to discuss the proliferation of student groups and maybe we would mention final clubs too,” the person said. “But it seems to be that all we’ve been doing is looking for a way to acknowledge final clubs.”

Subcommittee chair and Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd and Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II both declined to comment for this story. Other committee members did not respond to requests for comment.

The proposal does not resolve whether to formally acknowledge organizations with national affiliations, such as fraternities, as well as specifically whether to acknowledge racial and religious fraternities. Under the current system, neither type of group is permitted to register.

The subcommittee, which was charged last fall with making recommendations on overhauling the College’s relationship with student groups, had originally planned to publish its report before Commencement, Kidd said last fall. But she said last month that the report will probably come out in the fall because the subcommittee has only one more scheduled meeting this academic year.

—Staff writer Joshua P. Rogers can be reached at jprogers@fas.harvard.edu.