In a historic move, Harvard officials are implementing disincentives to keep students from joining single-gender groups like fraternities and sororities. Administrators call this an effort to prevent sexual discrimination.

According to Harvard College President Drew Gilpin Faust, “[Single-gender groups] play an unmistakable and growing role in student life, in many cases enacting forms of privilege and exclusion at odds with our deepest values.”

[lz_infobox]This piece is part of a CampusZette series exploring the culture, oddities, and experiences of students on college campuses through their eyes.[/lz_infobox]

The new policy bars any student involved in a single-gender group from holding leadership positions on campus, including captaincies of teams or positions in student government. Single-gender groups also include religious organizations on campus like the Knights of Columbus.

Critics contend that this new procedure places radical new limitations on students’ rights to free association and assembly — something guaranteed to students in their handbooks.

Leading the fight against this new rule born of out-of-control political correctness are the Harvard College Republicans. They took to Facebook to shame campus administrators, posting the following letter:

Dear President Faust, Dean Khurana, and Members of the Harvard Community,

Today we were notified of the University’s decision to sanction members of the class of 2021 and beyond who decide to participate in single-gender social organizations. These sanctions include banning said students from holding leadership roles in Harvard clubs and athletic teams, as well as denying them the opportunity to receive a Dean’s Endorsement to further pursue their studies. We are deeply troubled by this move, which is a blatant attack on freedom of association at Harvard College.

Freedom of association is a basic right in this country, and has for centuries been a right which has furthered intellectual and experiential diversity on college campuses, including Harvard. By trampling on this right, you are taking a dangerous step to limiting the personal freedom of students. Will the next step be to eliminate single-sex blocking groups? This is a treacherous path that you are leading us down.

Members of Harvard’s final clubs, sororities, fraternities, and other single-sex organizations have joined their respective groups for a sense of camaraderie and friendship amongst people whom they feel comfortable and at home with. As administrators you should not hamper their right to do so. We, as students, do not attempt to regulate your social circles, nor should you ours.

We have all come to Harvard grateful for the world-class education, endless opportunities, and timeless relationships. Yet by limiting our social interactions, you are diluting a key component of the college experience. Whether we choose to join clubs based on our interests, professional aspirations, athletic abilities, culture, or gender, you should not hinder our right to do so. For just as we learn in the diverse environment Harvard has created in the classroom and the freshman dormitories, we learn from making our own social connections and choosing our own associations.

We, like the rest of our peers and administrators, are disturbed by the high levels of sexual assaults on this campus. However, we affirm that a policy damning Harvard students who happen to be member of single-sex social organizations to second-class citizenship by robbing them of the same opportunities their peers have, is discriminatory and must be reversed.

By effectively shutting down single-sex social organizations, you are taking the easy way out on this epidemic. Why are you not shutting down Harvard dormitories and houses, where more than 75 percent of sexual assaults take place? By attacking single-sex organizations you are not attacking the problem of sexual assault, you are abdicating your responsibility. The problem of sexual assault is the perpetrator who should be punished as an individual.

Additionally, we object to the means in which we were notified of this egregious violation of our freedom of association. By releasing this policy during final examination period, when we are intended to be studying, you have hindered our opportunity to adequately respond and eliminated the opportunity for the Undergraduate Council to react as well.

In closing, we all stand together in the fight against the disgusting sexual assaults which take place on our campus, we all stand together in support of Harvard’s goals of diversity and inclusion. Yet we are ashamed that an institution like ours, which for years has produced leaders of all opinions and persuasions, would act so rashly to end freedom of association on this campus.

Sincerely,

The Harvard Republican Club Executive Board

Looks like there may be a tad bit of common sense left at the Ivys after all, though it remains to be seen if the College Republicans will have any success in overturning the nutty PC policy.