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Clubs Limit Guests to Curb Risks

Fox members say they decided not to changetheir guest policies because they are alreadytighter than other clubs.'

Only the vestiges of the pre-closed-door systemremain: clubs that have barred nonmembers willcontinue to hold long-standing annual events thatare open to nonmembers, such as the Owl luau.

`A Social Provider'

In early January, before any policy changes,both A.D. President John "Jake" H. Heller and '99and Delphic President William L. Burke '99 toldThe Crimson that since the early 1980s, finalclubs have been hosting more and more openparties.

They said this resulted in a shifting socialrole for the clubs. They were moving away fromtheir original purpose to an atmosphere morereminiscent of Animal House.

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"We bear the social responsibilities of frats,"Heller said. "We are losing our identity asanything more than a social provider."

Heller and Burke blamed randomization and thedecline of House communities for a campus socialscene that drives students to look for otheroptions.

"Ten years ago, you didn't have people knockingon your doors," Burke said.

Heller now says such concerns were important inmembers' conversations with A.D. graduate boardmembers.

"When the graduate board and under graduateboard get together, one thing we continuallydiscuss is what the A.D. and final clubs are allabout," Heller says. "We looked at where we wereheading, and we were going away from what we weremeant to be."

He attributes much of the A.D.'s problem tocrowd control issues.

"If at two in the morning there weren't 400kids standing outside, there wouldn't be aproblem," Heller says.

Less Money, More Problems

Krueger's death and the ensuing court case seemto have grabbed the graduate boards' attention.

"These [policy changes] were taking placebefore this year started. Personally, I think alot of it was triggered with the Scott Kruegerincident," Owl Librarian Jonathan Powers '00 says."It blew up again after the legal decision washanded down this year."

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