Clubs count on alumni for financial support, sothe opinions of alumni can prove a major factor inthe considerations of other clubs.
Although the group Women Appealing forChange has made headlines recently for their"friendly" boycott of final clubs, Fly PresidentScott B. Logan '94 said the Fly members reachedtheir decision independently.
Lars Kroijer '94, president of the Inter-ClubCouncil, said the Fly's vote will not affect theclub's status as a member of the council, and hethinks the Fly's decision may affect other clubs.
But members of the Owl and Spee clubs deniedlast night that the Fly's move would have anyeffect on their organizations. Some clubs areknown to have held votes in the past on whether toadmit women.
Spee "punch-master" Ryan K. Berglund '95 says"the Fly Club is going to be an experiment."
But while club members will be watching closelyto see how the Fly will change if women areadmitted, Berglund says he does not think theFly's decision means that other clubs will change.
Berglund says admitting women to the club hasalways been a topic of conversation, but the Speehas no plans to take a formal vote of its members.
An Owl Club member says that at an informalmeeting last week, the topic of going co-ed wasnot raised. He says that most of his club'smembers want the club to remain all male, and willnot feel pressured by the Fly's decision.
Despite the recent developments, the topic ofadmitting women is not widely discussed amongmembers, members say.
"The overall attitude isn't hostile, but one ofindifference," the Owl members says. "No one talksabout it. It's life as usual."
A small minority of members are in favor ofadmitting women, the Owl member says, but "theydon't feel strongly enough about it in a meetingto bring it up."
The Fly Club's undergraduates reachedtheir decision to propose admitting women to theclub at a meeting on Sunday.
According to one Fly member, some members whoattended the meeting were initially opposed toadmitting women, but after a lengthy debate thegroup was able to reach a consensus.
"If we thought [some members] would stop goingto the club, we wouldn't have done it," he said.
While Fly President Logan strongly supportedthe plan, many others who attended the meetingwere vocal in backing the proposed change,according to the same source.
The source said club members voted to go co-edbecause they felt women would augment the club.
"The clubs were established when Harvard wasall male, and it's not all male anymore," he said.
He also said that although any institution thatexcludes women is sexist, most Fly members used tobelieve that the merits of an all-male cluboutweighed the drawbacks. Now, that sentiment hasreversed.
The Fly member said he thinks that if the FlyClub admits women, more non-members will attendclub events. Women who previously refused to go toFly parties will now feel more comfortable doingso, he said--whether or not they belong to theorganization.