Rarely does one story hit so many of the sectors I talk about on a daily basis, but the recent news of Harvard has it in spades. The university president and her minions are out to get rid of single-sex organizations by any means necessary…even if they officially have no ties to the university itself.

From The New York Times, which has an unintentionally hilarious write-up on the whole thing…

 

Starting with the class that enters Harvard in fall 2017, members of single-sex clubs will be prohibited from holding leadership positions on campus, according to a statement released by the university’s president, Drew G. Faust. This would include athletic team captains; many club members have historically been captains. Members will also be barred from receiving the official recommendations required for prestigious postgraduate fellowships and scholarships, such as the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, the statement said…

The new rules will apply not only to the six male final clubs, but also to other single-sex organizations, including five women’s final clubs and nine sororities and fraternities. An estimated 30 percent of undergraduates at Harvard belong to such clubs…

Richard T. Porteus, a member of the Harvard Class of 1978 and graduate president of one of the final clubs, the Fly Club, said preliminary discussions were underway with lawyers to challenge the new rules under the theory that they infringe on the right to free association.

“We value what we’ve created over time and the opportunity that it offers for undergrads to develop as undergrads and, over the course of their lives, as people,” Mr. Porteus said. “And we won’t abandon it. So whatever legal, moral, ethical means we have of sticking up for our principles, I’m sure we’ll consider and choose among. But yes, litigation is certainly not off the table.”

The Porcellian Club, the oldest of the groups, issued its own statement: “We are disappointed with this unfair and punitive decision that attacks Harvard’s own students because they make a choice to freely assemble at unaffiliated, off-campus, private organizations.”

That’s not even the funny bit! I’ll get to that in a second. But the Porcellian Club statement hits the nail on the head. The final clubs aren’t even officially recognized by the university as it is. How dare they try to take punitive action against members of their student body for associations they choose to have off-campus? This is one of the most flagrant assaults on constitutional values I’ve seen all year.

More…

Two months ago, a sexual assault task force said the final clubs raised “serious concerns” that required attention from Harvard. Surveys conducted for the university, as well as interviews with undergraduate women, had found that some final clubs fostered an atmosphere of misogyny, sexual misconduct and entitlement…

The clubs are “imbued with a certain historical tradition that elevates members’ social status on campus,” creating an aura of sexual entitlement, the report said. “A woman’s physical appearance is often seen as the basis for entry to these spaces, and female students described a general expectation that entering final club spaces could be read as implicit agreement to have sexual encounters with members,” it said.

Male students who are not members are excluded from parties at many of the clubs, according to the report, enabling “a gender ratio that makes it easier for members to have a sexual encounter.”

Party themes and invitations have reflected misogynistic views and reinforced a sense of sexual entitlement, according to the report, which also pointed to “competitive games between members where a man will ‘win’ a particular woman or compete for the most sexual triumphs.”

Oh, so this is the handiwork of some phony sexual assault task force? Then I think I know what to do with President Faust’s ruling here…

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Speaking of President Faust, she went full SJW in her statement announcing the reprisals…

“Although the fraternities, sororities, and final clubs are not formally recognized by the College, they play an unmistakable and growing role in student life, in many cases enacting forms of privilege and exclusion at odds with our deepest values,” Faust wrote. “The College cannot ignore these organizations if it is to advance our shared commitment to broadening opportunity and making Harvard a campus for all of its students.”

She admits they already aren’t formally recognized by the college, but Faust want’s to take action anyway. What a disgraceful and thuggish thing to attempt in the name of combating “privilege.” And her lackey’s statement was even worse, if you can believe that…

“[T]he discriminatory membership policies of these organizations have led to the perpetuation of spaces that are rife with power imbalances,” Khurana wrote. “The most entrenched of these spaces send an unambiguous message that they are the exclusive preserves of men. In their recruitment practices and through their extensive resources and access to networks of power, these organizations propagate exclusionary values that undermine those of the larger Harvard College community.”

Jesus, this is amazing. How many rad fem buzzword can they fit into this drivel? Quite a lot, apparently. I hope the members of these final clubs, fraternities, and sororities all fight back with big lawsuits against this dictatorial decision. Many of these families and alumni are caked up, so I imagine they will be able to cause some headaches for the university. One can only hope, anyway.

Oh, and let me leave you with a final reminder about what life is like on Harvard’s campus as of late. Clearly we need to be combating privilege and not anti-white hate! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC-Cqkq6zWc

 

 

UPDATE: Slate’s XXFactor (their rad fem hub) wrote about this and of course completely ignored the fact that the new rules affect women-only clubs as well…

The Harvard University administration has taken a bold step in its ongoing effort to force the school’s exclusive all-male social clubs to accept women into their ranks. Beginning in the fall of 2017, students who join single-gender groups like the men-only so-called “final clubs,” which are independent from the school itself, will be barred from leadership positions in student organizations or sports teams and ineligible for school recommendations for fellowships like the Rhodes program. The sanctions will not affect current students or those matriculating this fall…

Some alumni were incensed at the thought of their cherished men-only havens turning into places where women could reap the benefits of a privileged network within­ a privileged network…

Now that Harvard is poised to take eventual action, other universities should be on notice: Harvard’s move has poked a giant hole in the conventional wisdom that independent off-campus student organizations can’t be regulated…

The Harvard final clubs present at least one considerable challenge to sanction enforcement: Since the clubs are private, their membership rolls are not publicized. There are initiation proceedings and dues, and the ubiquity of social media could make it hard for an entire organization to hide its roster. It wouldn’t be outside the purview of normal college conduct agreements to ask a student to sign a document verifying that he is not a member of an all-male final club before he accepts a basketball captainship or a Fulbright recommendation.

Keep in mind, this is a very left-wing site. Guess what, though? The author still got blown out by the progressive commentariat there…

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Oh, and comments under The Crimson (the official Harvard student newspaper) article I linked earlier in this post weren’t much better for the authoritarians…

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Reminder about Faust…the irony was mentioned above:

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