Final Clubs Divide Campus, Perhaps Harvard, Radcliffe

Four months ago, Lisa J. Schkolnick '88 filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) charging one of Cambridge's nine all-male final clubs with sexual discrimination, and thus began a slow process of priming the state's legal machinery. A decision from MCAD the complaint is not expected until nearly a year from now.

But in the months that have followed, the way final clubs select members to their exclusive ranks has divided students, some faculty members, and possibly even Harvard and Radcliffe officials.

In an interview last week. President Bok said that he had only once visited a club in the 17 years he has been president. "I have to say that if you gave me $500 for every final club that I could find in Harvard Square, I would not be much richer in the end than I was when I started."

In addition, the Harvard president said Schkolnick's complaint contained complex issues. "A lot depends on whether the clubs are purely social. If they are, whether or not I agree with them, its seems to fall under the area of free choice," he said. Citing the possible argument that the clubs help forge future business connections, Bok did not say definitively whether he thought her suit had legal merit.

But if Harvard won't take a stand, Radcliffe may.

According to Schkolnick, Radcliffe President Matina S. Horner was sympathetic to her case during a meeting they had last week to discuss the complaint. The Mather House senior said that during the meeting, Horner told her to provide more information about the clubs.

"I went to her because I wanted Radcliffe to endorse my move," Schkolnick said. Schkolnick said she hoped an endorsement vote would come before Radcliffe's governing board in April.

But in the meantime, MCAD Commissioner Kathleen M. Allen said her organization had requested more information from the Fly Club, the final club cited by Schkolnick in her discrimination complaint. Allen said MCAD was "still in the process of getting information," and would decide then whether it had sufficient information to make a decision.

That information was delivered to MCAD yesterday, said Joel S. Post '89, the Fly Club's president. "The second interrogative was filed today," Post said, adding that he had "no idea" of the MCAD's timetable on the case.

Harvard students have not waited for a state decision. In an effort to drum up support for her case, Schkolnick has tried to receive endorsement for her complaint from the Undergraduate Council. Though the council voted down a motion to support the complaint on moral grounds. It did approve a grant to Stop Witholding Access Today (SWAT), a new student group pledged to support the Mather senior's case SWAT won approval as an official student organization from the College last month.

SWAT members said they are now planning a variety of activities and fundraisers to support Schkolnick's case. The group has had two organizational meetings that each drew more than 20 students, said John A. Felitti '91, one of SWAT's founders.

A meeting next week will help the group decide what its aims will be, said SWAT member, Jeanne Theoharis '91. She said that the group at that time would "figure out what SWAT's principle and main line is."

SWAT members said their next activity would be a postering campaign. "We're putting up posters Monday," Theoharis said, adding that the flyers would probably include the comments of one Fly Club member who told The Boston Globe, "It's nice to have a place to get away from it all."

The group may also send the final clubs a letter urging them to admit women, Theoharis said. She added that the letter would also say that "if they did decide to let women in, then [SWAT] would donate all its money to building a student center" or to some other Harvard charity.

But the main focus of the next few weeks, Felitti said, would be a party at the garden behind the Fly Club to be held in late April. "The garden party will be the main media and money-making source for the spring," he said.

But SWAT members said they are planning other fundraisers. They say they hope to send a letter to alumni asking for donations. And Theoharis said the group "Education for Action" would give SWAT a grant to print a pamphlet that would be included in freshman registration packets next year.

Other grants may come from the Harvard Foundation and the Radcliffe Union of Students, Theoharis said.

Money raised by SWAT will go to helping Schkolnick pay non-legal fees on her complaint, as well as their own activities.