JOHNJOHN HARVARD’SHARVARD’S JOURNAL the measure, the policy itself, and its imple- resources and desirable private facilities in Social-Club Saga mentation—and the issues may well remain Harvard Square) and the newer fraterni- unresolved for months to come. ties and sororities are organizations that, de As of May 6, a full year will have passed The policy, as originally propounded, jure, exclude members of the opposite sex in since Harvard College dean Rakesh Khura- withholds from undergraduates who join close proximity to the College, which strives na announced a policy that would sanction a USGSO the College endorsement required to be maximally inclusive; and that the ven- students enrolling this coming August and for prestigious fellowships (the Rhodes, ues where these groups congregate may be thereafter if they choose to join an unrec- Marshall, and so on), and prohibits their conducive to evasion of age-related alcohol ognized single-gender social organization holding positions of leadership in recog- regulations, and lead to sexual assaults. (USGSO—final clubs, fraternities, or soror- nized organizations and athletic teams. Although many faculty members and ities; see harvardmag.com/finalclub-16). Varying rationales have been invoked to students support implementing the policy, Throughout this academic year, the Faculty support the policy, principally focusing on many others do not. Among professors— of Arts and Sciences (FAS) has been entan- the fact that the long-established male fi- including some who have long deplored gled in disagreements over the rationale for nal clubs (which enjoy substantial financial behavior associated with the final clubs— 18 May - June 2017 Photograph by Jim Harrison Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 JOHN HARVARD'S JOURNAL objections crystalized around three points. the one Khurana propounded is a matter for The Larz Anderson Bridge, finally First, no matter how odious a gender-ex- faculty legislation, not administrative fiat. renovated, spans the Charles River seamlessly again. An au courant addition: clusive social club may be, so long as it and These themes coalesced in a motion draft- new lighting, seen from downriver. its conduct are legal, the College has no ed by Gordon McKay professor of comput- business intruding on students’ decision er science Harry R. Lewis, himself a past to affiliate themselves with such a group: dean of the College. Its language specified IN THIS ISSUE the right to associate is theirs. Second, an “that Harvard College shall not discriminate administrative decision pertaining to social against students on the basis of organiza- 20 Harvard Portrait activities the College officially dislikes must tions they join, nor political parties with 21 News Briefs not intrude on a faculty member’s preroga- which they affiliate, nor social, political or 22 Yesterday’s News tive in recommending a student, based on other affinity groups they join, as long as 23 University People her or his academic work, for a fellowship those organizations, parties, or groups have 25 Brevia like a Rhodes or Marshall scholarship. And not been judged to be illegal.” 27 The Undergraduate third, as a matter of governance, a policy like Debate on the motion consumed the No- 30 Sports Harvard Magazine 19 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 JOHN HARVARD'S JOURNAL vember and December FAS faculty meet- HARVARD PORTRAIT ings (see harvardmag.com/finalclub-fas-16 and harvardmag.com/finalclub-fas2-16) and appeared likely to do so again in early February. But in late January, Khurana said he would ask FAS dean Michael D. Smith to appoint a committee, including faculty members and students, to evaluate the pol- icy itself, in search of improvements. Lewis and colleagues decided to stand down. The faculty appeared headed toward regular dis- cussions of other pressing business. Not so fast. The committee Khurana had earlier ap- pointed to figure out how toimplement the USGSO policy issued its report on March 6 (it had not been notified, prior to his Janu- ary announcement, about the creation of the policy-review committee). The implemen- tation measures, described in full at har- vardmag.com/gendersteps-17, expanded the range of fellowships that would fall un- der the sanctions and called for extending them to leadership positions in the elected student government—the Undergraduate Council—and The Harvard Crimson, whose leaders promptly and vigorously objected. (Khurana said he would study those two applications further, while accepting all the other recommendations.) The implemen- tation measures also called for the policy to extend not only to gender and racial Stephan Magro discrimination, but also to socioeconom- ic discrimination. To bolster enforcement, Stephan Magro once conjured up 250 red peonies, months out of season, for a the implementation group advised requiring dinner in honor of an important donor: with a couple of phone calls, they were flown students to sign a statement acknowledg- in from Alaska. While he declines to name other miracles from his 15 years of planning ing awareness of Harvard’s nondiscrimina- events for the Development Office, he does say this: no sooner did he become Com- tion policy and affirming “compliance with mencement director in July 2016 than he was flooded by special requests from parents, that policy” before receiving a scholarship faculty, and alumni. Equal parts discretion and showmanship, the job demands sincere or fellowship endorsement, or assuming a love of pageantry and mastery of detail, down to each seat-monitor’s training and position of leadership in a recognized or- every hood’s hue. Magro, who dresses in button-up vests and scarves, likens himself ganization or athletic team. Violations of to a magician—after all, his job involves robes and wands, he jokes. Then he immedi- the policy would be reviewed by the Hon- ately self-corrects: it’s a baton. “This is a real artifact that’s used in our traditions! And or Council, the body set up to adjudicate it’s so fun.” But traditions aren’t dictated by some arcane office of lore, he adds: “It’s instances of academic misconduct such as us.” Magro grew up in Massachusetts and spent summers with family in Italy, where cheating. (Some of the council’s student he holds dual citizenship. In college, he studied sociology and journalism; through members promptly told the Crimson they event planning, he became fluent in floral décor and wine pairings. And just as doctors had not been advised of this enlargement make bad patients, he’s a guest who can’t relax. Magro recalls that at his sister’s wed- of their responsibilities, and opposed it). ding, he felt compelled to intervene with the caterers to expedite the meal service. These recommendations overshadowed (His own took place one October in Salem, amid tourists and costumed witches.) the implementation committee’s discus- Graduation ceremonies, like those for marriage, have a performative logic: participants sion of programs (such as “inter-house din- and the community collectively invest the ritual with meaning. With Commencement, ing societies”) and new social spaces that Magro is in charge of a show, older than the United States, in which 32,000 well- might accommodate student needs better wishers witness the conferral of degrees. He says, “You tell me something that’s more than the final clubs—in the Smith Campus like a spell than this.” vSOPHIA NGUYEN Center (now being renovated), a repurposed Queen’s Head Pub (underneath Memorial 20 May - June 2017 Photograph by Jim Harrison Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 Hall), the elegant Loeb House (home to the governing boards), and elsewhere. No cost estimates or timelines accompanied these ideas, and given FAS’s current, enormous spending on House renewal, significant new investments are not likely immediately. The next day, Dean Smith unveiled the MITCHELL/HPAC STEPHANIE initial membership of the committee that will review the USGSO policy—including Experience Commencement 2017 Khurana as co-chair (see the full list at har- with Harvard Magazine vardmag.com/usgso-com-17). He charged it with: This year’s Commencement will feature Mark Zuckerberg, John • reviewing existing policy, reports, and Kerry, Sally Yates, and others. Read our in-depth coverage of the data; • considering “whether there are other events, faces, and themes of Commencement week, May 23-26. means of achieving our stated goals, includ- ing and especially that of fully advancing the harvardmag.com/commencement non-discrimination objectives reflected in the current policy, and to evaluate whether any would be more effective than our cur- with “the College’s policy regarding ment declared particular kinds of rent policy”; and the principle of non-discrimination, organizations illegal and demanded • proposing, “should more effective means particularly with regard to member- oaths of non-membership from all be identified, changes or expansions to the ship in unrecognized single-gender college students. The faculty would current policy or a new approach.” social organizations.” What happens be on firmer ground to resist such A report is due for public consumption by if a student refuses to take this affir- demands if it did not require similar next fall (at which point the existing policy mation on the principle that they are oaths from our students. presumably will have taken effect). opposed to such oaths? Would they Hence, the motion—which is deliberately Putnam professor of organismic and evo- be in contempt of the College’s policy phrased to test the sense of the faculty, and lutionary biology David Haig is a member and thereby ineligible for the afore- the implementation mechanism, rather than of the new policy-review committee. He was a mentioned awards and offices? What to address matters such as faculty versus proponent of Harry Lewis’s motion oppos- happens if a student cannot in con- administrative jurisdiction or the underly- ing the sanctions policy; that motion, as not- science affirm they are in compliance ing policy itself.