It’s the end of an era for Harvard’s sororities after its last all-female Greek chapter announced last week that it will disaffiliate from a national sorority organization and will become open to men amid the administration’s crackdown on single-gender social clubs.
The sorority, Alpha Phi, said in a statement that it will go co-ed and rebrand itself as “The Ivy,” despite previous declarations that it won’t open its doors to men. It blamed the school’s sanctions on members of the single-gender Greek organizations for the decision, the Harvard Crimson reported.
“Ultimately, Alpha Phi was founded to provide help, hand in hand, to a community of women so we could achieve success that paralleled the men around us,” the group said. “We do not believe our school’s sanctions are justified, but in non-compliance, we are giving up on young women who came to our organization for a strong community and are instead forced to risk their future success.”
“We do not believe our school’s sanctions are justified, but in non-compliance, we are giving up on young women who came to our organization for a strong community and are instead forced to risk their future success.”
Alpha Phi International also released a statement announcing the Harvard group's disaffiliation from the national sorority organization. “This decision was made in direct response to the sanctions placed by Harvard University administration on members of single-gender organizations,” it said, according to the student newspaper.
“Members were put in an untenable conflict, forced to choose between the opportunity to have a supportive, empowering women-only space and external scholastic and leadership opportunities,” Alpha Phi International president Renee Zainer added.
“Members were put in an untenable conflict, forced to choose between the opportunity to have a supportive, empowering women-only space and external scholastic and leadership opportunities.”
Harvard slapped sanctions on members of such organizations in 2016, including barring members of single-gender clubs from holding student leadership positions, varsity team athletic captaincies and even from receiving the university’s endorsement for certain prestigious fellowships.
Initially, the four sororities on campus rebelled at the decision to impose sanctions on its members and spoke out against it. According to the Crimson, hundreds of sorority sisters rallied outside Harvard president’s office in a bid to reverse the move.
Three sororities – Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, and Kappa Alpha Theta – also issued a statement in 2017 saying they will defy the sanctions and will continue the tradition of recruiting only women to their clubs in spring 2018.
“While Harvard’s sanctions claim to support women’s right to make their own decisions, these sanctions actually force women to choose between the opportunity to have supportive, empowering women-only spaces and external leadership opportunities,” the three sororities said in a statement at the time.
But all sororities eventually backtracked and became available to both women and men. Kappa Kappa Gamma was the first to go co-ed in December 2017. Last month, Kappa Alpha Theta announced its decision to become the gender-neutral “Theta Zeta Xi,” while Delta Gamma decided to close its doors altogether.
HARVARD SORORITY CAVES TO SCHOOL’S IMPOSED PENALTIES, WILL BECOME ALL-GENDER CLUB
There are now only three non-Greek female clubs that are exclusively for women, the Crimson reported. The IC Club, the Pleiades Society and the La Vie Club still admit only women, but two all-female social clubs have also began admitting men.
While sororities on Harvard campus have folded, nine all-male groups, which include three fraternities and six social clubs, remain open only to men. Four men’s groups have made the decision to open for all genders.
