The high-club distinction between intellectual and social companions extends beyond the realm of male friendship. Many members of the most highly regarded clubs--the Porcellian, the A.D., the Fly, the Delphic, and the Spee--make similar distinctions among their female associates.
A large proportion find their girl friends at Bradford, Briarcliff, and other out - of - the - way places that abound in young ladies from good families. Club members often have two girls--one they love and one they lost for -- and whoring is still practiced by members of many clubs. "There's a woman you have a sexual attraction for and another you don't think of that way," Birge said. "But she speaks well, is pretty, and plays the harpsichord."
Birge feels that this sort of segregated existence is out of step with the times, and he puts partial blame for its perpetuation on the aristocratic traditions of the clubs. "If you're an active member of the Porcellian, you can't be living in the 1960's. When you're inside that place, you realize it's something straight out of Fitzgerald."
Lack of Commitment
The steeped tradition of the Porcellian hurts its members academically too, Birge feels. "There's a fetish about a lack of commitment. To care too much about something is square. Big as it is, there's not one room in the place set aside for studying. This is part of a confusion between complacency and maturity."
Birge thinks that the constant reminders of distinguished alumni are a detrimental influence. "There are enough pictures in the place to make it clear that graduates of the Porcellian are famous, but the average member turns this around and figures that it was the Porcellian that made these people famous. They don't figure that when the old guys were at Harvard, they didn't spend their time around the club staring at pictures."
Those who contend that the clubs are a good thing for members have a more difficult time arguing that they perform a valuable Service to the University. The clubs' exclusionist philosophy would seem to be out of step with the University's democratic ideals.
Dean Watson answers that "only about one half of one per cent of the people not in clubs are terribly unhappy about it." It is no doubt true that non-members are far more content than the undergraduate who wants to get into the Porcellian Club but is forced to settle for a club farther down the ladder.
Prejudice
Racial prejudice and anti-Semitism are still vital factors in the selection of club members. The Porcellian Club is reputed never to have admitted a Jewish student, and the story is told that the only Jew ever to enter the Delphic Club did so under an assumed name.
"Judging from my experience, I would say that there is no doubt that the Porcellian Club--as an institution --is anti-Semitic," Birge said. "Many of the individual members may not be, but the Club definitely is."
The Spee Club broke tradition this year by electing a Negro, the first ever to join a Harvard Final Club. But it would be a mistake to assume that this step indicates a change in the attitudes of most club members.
William Coleman III '65-4, president of the Delphic Club at the time of the election, expressed the majority view in a statement to the CRIMSON. "I don't want to say that this is a precedent that all the clubs at Harvard should follow, or that the Delphic Club is definitely going to take in a Negro or a Chinese or whatever," Coleman said.
Club members are often willing to acknowledge that racial and religious prejudices exist, but most excuse it because "that's the way the world is." Few worry that Harvard will use this or any other excuse to end or drastically change the club system. Club alumni, a remarkably loyal group, are among the biggest contributors to Harvard, and this is the clubs' ace in the hole.
A University circular in the early fifties dared to state that clubs were not influential in undergraduate life, and the report brought scores of angry letters from outraged alumni. The error has not been repeated.