Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Fly Club member who graduated last year says he is disappointed by how the graduates handled the issue.

"They were not ready to move when we were," he says. "If they conducted their business in the way they looked at this issue, they would never get anywhere."

The recent graduate says he doesn't believe a year was needed to discuss the issue.

"It doesn't take a year to talk about some issue," he says. "We could have moved on it anytime last year. We were ready at any point."

But he says he was not surprised that last year's decision was reversed by the recent vote.

"Realistically, I didn't think it would go through again," he says. "An unanimous vote is only going to come around once."

When selecting new members last spring, the club was not concerned with the new class' attitudes about a co-ed punch, the recent graduate says.

He says he doesn't think admitting women would affect the nature of the club.

"The experience won't change," he says. Still, he acknowledges that for men who see the club as an all-male retreat, female members would be jarring.

"It is scary for those who are frightened by women, intellectually, socially--for those who are uncomfortable with women," he says.

The club's decision last month to refrain from going co-ed brought a disappointed response from at least one Harvard official. Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 says the Fly's choice was "unfortunate."

But such statements make little difference to club members. Students in the Fly are not "particularly concerned with how the school feels about it," the recent graduate says.

Also speaking on condition of anonymity, the alumni member from more than a decade ago says that delaying the issue for a year was "a big mistake."

"These things are fragile and difficult to do. If you delay, you lose momentum," he says. "They had unity last year--now it is going to take longer."

He says there is "clearly a majority in favor of taking women, among grads and undergrads."