Harvard sorority will shut down rather than go co-ed

A Harvard sorority has decided to shut down after the Ivy League released a campus-wide order to single-gender student groups to go co-ed or forfeit campus opportunities.

Sorority Delta Gamma, a national organization, announced that the Zeta Phi-Cambridge Area chapter would close on Thursday.

The sorority claimed that the decision to close was a difficult one, but one they had to make as ‘the value of sorority is too great’, blaming the university’s sanctions as the reason its dissolution in a press release.  

Harvard gave single-gender student groups an ultimatum to become co-ed or be banned from holding leadership positions, captaining varsity athletic teams, and winning university endorsement for postgraduate fellowships, in an attempt to make the campus more inclusive.

Harvard’s Delta Gamma chapter, pictured above, announced Thursday that it will shut down as a result of the university’s penalties for single-gender groups that refuse to become co-ed

The sanctions were first announced in 2016 and enforced for students arriving on campus in the fall of 2017.  

In May Harvard’s Delta Gamma chapter, which was established in 1994, decided to disband following a vote by local chapter members. What followed was a 60-day comment period.

The sorority is the first group to close down in response to the University’s sanctions. 

Other single-gender social groups have since complied with the new policies, opening up membership to all sexes or disaffiliating from their national organizations, according to The Harvard Crimson.  

‘We respect the chapter’s decision and understand that the University’s sanctions resulted in an environment in which Delta Gamma could not thrive,’ Wilma Johnson Wilbanks, Delta Gamma’s national president said. 

‘We sincerely hope this changes in the future,’ she added.

‘This decision does not mean that we are succumbing to the University’s new sanctions and policies regarding participation in unrecognized single-gender organizations like ours… We will continue to champion our right to exist on campuses everywhere,’ the release said. 

Harvard’s co-ed ultimatum is an attempt to exert more control on the social clubs as well as address a nation-wide issue of sexual harassment and gender discrimination rife in all-male fraternities and clubs.

But to the sorority, the sanctions were interpreted as a hit at their female haven. 

Members of a club called the Sablière Society also accused the Ivy League’s sanctions of being ‘damage control’ for all-male groups, sacrificing ‘support systems, safe spaces, and alumnae networks’ built in all-female clubs.

In May 2017 the Ivy League gave single-gender social groups the ultimatum to go co-ed or be barred from leadership positions on campus and winning postgraduate fellowships 

In May 2017 the Ivy League gave single-gender social groups the ultimatum to go co-ed or be barred from leadership positions on campus and winning postgraduate fellowships 

The Harvard penalties follow a university report on sexual assault prevention that chastised the campus’ six all-male final clubs (which are unaffiliated with the university but exist on campus) for ‘deeply misogynistic attitudes’, according to the Washington Post. 

The report said 47 per cent of female seniors who attended male final club events or female final club events reported ‘experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact since entering college’.

Harvard also faces three open investigations in regards to Title IX, the federal law against gender discrimination in schools that receive public funding.

Harvard spokesperson Rachael Dane said the sanctions are necessary for campus inclusivity. 

‘The policy on Unrecognized Single-Gender Social Organizations (USGSO) is designed to dedicate resources to those organizations that are advancing principles of inclusivity, while offering them supportive pathways as they transform into organizations that align with the educational philosophy, mission, and values of the College,’ she said. 

In 2017, the then University President wrote that single-gender social groups ‘stand in the way of our ability to provide a fully challenging and inclusive educational experience to the diverse students currently on our campus.’



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