Letter to the Editor: The Benefits of Single-Sex Social Societies

To the editor:

In the debate over the right of Harvard College students to participate in sororities, fraternities and single-sex final clubs it should be noted that those societies both meet a valid need and achieve worthy goals.

Should Harvard inquire, I believe the evidence will show that the members of those societies participate to the same extent in the co-ed life of the campus as do other undergraduates. Oddly, while trumpeting the primacy of co-ed College life, Harvard will impose sanctions that limit society members’ involvement in that life. As it is now, the members derive the full benefit of meshing their talents and energies with the opposite sex in the classrooms, at Phillips Brooks House, at the Loeb Theater, and in a multitude of other College activities. And they socialize together in the dining halls, on dates, and at parties.

But to further enrich their Harvard experience members have found a need for space and time unto themselves as women and unto themselves as men. They have recognized that the social experience of men with men is different from the social experience of women with women. And they have also recognized that both are different from the social experience of young men with young women. The benefits of the former are as valid as the benefits of the latter. And thus Harvard’s men and women have turned in growing numbers to the single-sex social societies.

What those societies provide is a circle of good friends from across the College and across the classes. It is a fact that the single-sex societies are especially effective at bringing about deep and lasting friendships between their members (much as do the single-sex varsity sports teams). And as the student body has diversified in its racial, ethnic, economic status, and national origin composition, so have the societies’ memberships, contrary to the complaints of Harvard. And ironically, of course the friendships between those members precisely serve Harvard’s ends.

Friendships formed as undergraduates are important to the happy experience of Harvard College life. And happy College years will likely mean loyalty to Harvard in the many years to follow. Harvard will ill-serve itself and its hard-working scholars when it penalizes them for enjoying a vibrant dimension of Harvard life.

Sincerely,
Zechariah Chafee ’73

Zechariah Chafee ’73 is a lawyer living in Providence, R.I. He was a member of The Fly Club.