Single Sex-Organizations Under Attack By Harvard's Policy

Harvard, Single-Sex Organizations Aren't The Problem, Your Discriminatory Policies Are

Harvard's new policy believes single-sex organizations foster an unsafe environment that leads to sexual assault.

Juliana Ferreri
Juliana Ferreri Dec 10, 2018
324
views

Harvard has been planning to implement this policy for the past few years, but it just recently passed. A notice was sent to clubs and organizations saying, "Go coed, or your members will lose the ability to hold campus-leadership positions and to be endorsed for outside scholarships."

Harvard implemented this policy because they believe these single-sex organization fostered an unsafe environment that leads to sexual assault. They also believed that these organizations were discriminatory towards others who want to be included. With this so-called "inclusivity" problem, Harvard believed that this policy needed to be put in place.

On Monday students in the sororities and fraternities at Harvard filed a lawsuit at the federal court in Boston and Massachusetts. Harvard students believe the university is "spreading negative stereotypes, Harvard's views that all-male organizations cause sexual assault because they are all-male...are sexist in the extreme," which is stated directly in the lawsuit. It is extremely unfair for the university to discriminate against someone based on the club they have joined.

It seems that Harvard has jumped the gun on implementing this policy, especially to this extreme. As admittance into these clubs has increased, they now have to terminate their status as a woman-led club.

Apart from the lawsuit, there are contradictions within the policy that students have found. The first one is that Harvard had concerns about sexual assault within men and women student social organization. But when looking deeper into Harvard's data it stated that "90% of nonconsensual contact occurs in university-run dorms under Harvard's direct control."

Whereas when speaking about Harvard's policy specifically saying, if the single-sex organizations do not become inclusive they will not be able to hold leadership opportunities. Harvard students apart of the fight against this policy claim that it strips the students of their opportunity to elect their own leader or teammate that deserves it.

Harvard students believe that by tearing down these organizations they are in turn tearing down those students sense of community.

People around the country are up in arms, and attempting to do anything they can to help. Sororities and fraternities are posting all over social media asking others them to stand with Harvard and sign the petition! It is not only sororities and fraternities that are affected by this policy.

An important quote by Mandy Burgett Wushinske, the International President of Kappa Alpha Theta, said, "By forcing women to make an impossible choice — between holding leadership positions and applying for scholarship and fellowships or being members of communities specifically designed to support and empower college women to have those aspirations — Harvard administrations placed our chapter in an untenable situation."

If you would like to help support this cause you can click here and sign their petition.

Juliana Ferreri
Juliana Ferreri Dec 10, 2018
At University of Rhode Island

Popular Right Now

To The Friends I Won't Talk To After High School

I sincerely hope, every great quality I saw in you, was imprinted on the world.
Julia Muccini
Julia Muccini May 31, 2016
14390
views

Hey,

So, for the last four years I’ve seen you almost everyday. I’ve learned about your annoying little brother, your dogs and your crazy weekend stories. I’ve seen you rock the awful freshman year fashion, date, attend homecoming, study for AP tests, and get accepted into college.

Thank you for asking me about my day, filling me in on your boy drama and giving me the World History homework. Thank you for complimenting my outfits, laughing at me presenting in class and listening to me complain about my parents. Thank you for sending me your Quizlets and being excited for my accomplishments- every single one of them. I appreciate it all because I know that soon I won’t really see you again. And that makes me sad. I’ll no longer see your face every Monday morning, wave hello to you in the hallways or eat lunch with you ever again. We won't live in the same city and sooner or later you might even forget my name.

We didn’t hang out after school but none the less you impacted me in a huge way. You supported my passions, stood up for me and made me laugh. You gave me advice on life the way you saw it and you didn’t have to but you did. I think maybe in just the smallest way, you influenced me. You made me believe that there’s lots of good people in this world that are nice just because they can be. You were real with me and that's all I can really ask for. We were never in the same friend group or got together on the weekends but you were still a good friend to me. You saw me grow up before your eyes and watched me walk into class late with Starbucks every day. I think people like you don’t get enough credit because I might not talk to you after high school but you are still so important to me. So thanks.

With that said, I truly hope that our paths cross one day in the future. You can tell me about how your brothers doing or how you regret the college you picked. Or maybe one day I’ll see you in the grocery store with a ring on your finger and I’ll be so happy you finally got what you deserved so many guys ago.

And if we ever do cross paths, I sincerely hope you became everything you wanted to be. I hope you traveled to Italy, got your dream job and found the love of your life. I hope you have beautiful children and a fluffy dog named Charlie. I hope you found success in love before wealth and I hope you depended on yourself for happiness before anything else. I hope you visited your mom in college and I hope you hugged your little sister every chance you got. She’s in high school now and you always tell her how that was the time of your life. I sincerely hope, every great quality I saw in you, was imprinted on the world.

And hey, maybe I’ll see you at the reunion and maybe just maybe you’ll remember my face. If so, I’d like to catch up, coffee?

Sincerely,

Me

Cover Image Credit: High school Musical
Julia Muccini
Julia Muccini May 31, 2016
At Texas A&M University

Related Content

Connect with a generation
of new voices.

We are students, thinkers, influencers, and communities sharing our ideas with the world. Join our platform to create and discover content that actually matters to you.

Learn more Start Creating

Don't Ask Me if it's Real or Not

PSA: Don't ask a girl if her hair is real or not, you may get a response you weren't expecting.

Laneisha Jeans
Laneisha Jeans Jun 11, 2019
605
views

I am a server at a restaurant in Tampa, and last weekend at work I got asked numerous questions about my hair. Normally, getting asked about my hair isn't a huge issue for me, but it was the comments that were said after, as well as the look of disbelief in this person's face when I answered them.

I walked up to greet my table. Two elderly couples were coming in for drinks and dinner. Putting on my best customer service voice and smile, I introduce myself. As soon as I finish, one of the gentlemen looks at me and says, "WOW. Is that all of your natural hair?" I smile nervously and assured him that this was the hair growing out of my scalp. He then proceeds to add a comment saying,

"It's so big. It looks like you stuck your finger in something and got electrocuted."

I had to sit and pause for a second after hearing this. I think my facial expressions could tell how I was feeling, because his wife jumped in and tried to compliment me on the thickness of my hair, envying it because she didn't have as much hair.

After such an experience, I decided to conduct an Instagram poll, to see what other people's opinions were about this incident, and if it's ever happened to them. Based on the results, people with naturally straight hair don't get asked if their hair is real or not, compared to those with naturally curly hair. Out of those with naturally straight hair, about 76% of the people that voted, have not experienced someone question the authenticity of their hair. On the other hand, of those with naturally curly hair, approximately 82% said they do get questioned about the authenticity of their hair. As a result, 66% of that 82% with naturally curly hair, are of African-American decent or mixed races.

So what's the big deal?

Naturally straight-haired people rarely ever get asked if their hair is real, however, once someone comes along with naturally curly hair and happens to be a person of color, originality is questioned. Why does a certain category of people get asked more often if their hair is real or not? Stereotypes? Ignorance? Genuine lack of knowledge?

Whatever the reason may be, it needs to stop. Wigs and extensions are extremely common in this day and age, but they also aren't restricted to one race of people. Even celebrities of fair skin wear wigs and fake hair.

Whenever I get asked about the authenticity of my hair, people look astonished when I tell them it is all mine. Why would anyone think the hair growing out of my scalp is fake? It is a known stereotype that people of color do have more coarse and curly hair textures, but that also isn't the case for everyone. We need to stop putting people in categories based on stereotypes. This applies to more than just hair texture. Especially when interacting with strangers, you cannot assume things based on what you've heard or any prejudgements you may mentally make. Asking someone if their hair is real or not, is just as bad as asking someone if they got a nose job or breast implants. What if you ask them and they say no? It can be more offensive to that person than you think. I understand there are cases where the person genuinely is uneducated about other hair types, but either way, those types of comments or questions should not be vocalized. As a society we need to be more considerate of the things we say, as well as get rid of stereotypes and negative prejudgments. At the end of the day, we are all the same species. We may look completely different than the person next to us, but that's the beauty of it all.

Laneisha Jeans
Laneisha Jeans Jun 11, 2019
At University of South Florida

Related Content

Facebook Comments