But students also point to the Fly Club garden, which is partially owned by the University, as evidence that such ties do exist.

"The garden is open to all members of Harvard College at all times," says Ellen Hatfield, who is Epps's personal secretary. She says student groups can call her office to reserve the space and then fill out an application form to use the space.

Nonetheless, some students complain that the University continues to give the Fly Club preferential treatment in the use of the garden. Schkolnick says members of the club have access to the garden at any time, while student groups have to fill out a form and get a key from Epps.

And Schkolnick says Hatfield "has to call the Fly and find out if [there are] conflicts with their activities."

But Hatfield says that her calls to Fly Club are to tell them when events are scheduled, calling them "simply a matter of courtesy." She says the Fly Club uses its own land for functions, not the University's, and "there have been simultaneous events. "A line of trees separates the Fly Club's land from the University property.

Hatfield says that groups such as the Catholic Students Assocation and the International Students Association have used the garden in the past. One organization that will be using the space is SWAT. SWAT plans to hold a fundraiser in the garden this spring and has received permission from the Dean of Students to use the space, says Freeland.

Even if MCAD finds it has jurisdiction over the case and that the clubs are an integral part of Harvard life, it is unclear what the fate of the clubs will be. Schkolnick's complaint is against only one of the clubs, although she has said she will take on all the clubs, if necessary. And a lot hinges on the clubs themselves.

Many club members, as well as anti-club activists, say the clubs will eventually become co-educational institutions or face extinction. But many say the change will never be voluntary.

"It will be a cold day in Bangladesh before [the opening of the clubs to women] happens voluntarily," says Zubrensky. Zubrensky says he became inactive in his club after recent judicial rulings made him realize that all-male social clubs have no future.

"We have entered a new era with respect to the law's tolerance," Zubrensky says, adding that final clubs are unconstitutional. Last year a New Jersey court ruled in favor of Sally Frank, a former Princeton student who filed suit against the school's all-male eating clubs.

Calling the clubs "dinosaurs whose extinction is at hand," Professor of Law Alan Dershowitz says that very few universities have had as shameful a role as Harvard. He called on the faculty to stop attending club events and says he hopes the clubs will become coeducational on their own.

Agrees Parsons, "I do believe the clubs ought to adapt or go extinct."