History of Social Space at Harvard
1912-1918 No Jews are admitted to The Porcellian, the A.D., the Fly, the Spee, and the Delphic during these years, according to Jerome Karabel’s “The Chosen: the Hidden History of Admission at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.”

1938 – The Spee Club accepts John F. Kennedy ’40 in an era when many of the Final Clubs do not accept Catholics.

1965 – The Spee Club becomes the first final club to admit an African-American, Frank M. Snowden ’68. In response, William C. Coleman III ’66, president of the Delphic Club, told The Crimson, “I don't want to say that this is a precedent that all the clubs at Harvard should follow, or that the Delphic Club is definitely going to take in a Negro, or a Chinese, or whatever. I think as far as the clubs are concerned within the context of Harvard University, this is a good thing. It is an indication that clubs are not as exclusive—in any sense, not just racially—as people have tended to think they are."

1981 - The first female final club, The Bee, is founded.

1983 – The Porcellian Club admits its first black member, William Batts ’Jr. ’86.

1984 – The University severs its ties to the final clubs when they refuse to admit women. This meant that the clubs would be denied access to Harvard’s steam heat, alumni mailing lists, sophomore housing lists, and central telephone service.

1986 – One third of Final Club presidents are Jewish, according to Morton and Phyllis Keller’s “Making Harvard Modern: The Rise of America’s University.”

1987 – Lisa J. Schkolnick ’88 files a complaint against the Fly Club for unlawful discrimination. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination states that it lacks the jurisdiction to order the club to integrate.

1989 - Sigma Chi chapter founded by a group of four first-years.

1992 - Kappa Alpha Theta, a sorority, creates a Harvard chapter.

1993 – Fly undergraduates vote unanimously to include women. A year later, however, they change their minds, favoring “club unity over women” after graduate board intervention.

1994 - Delta Gamma, a sorority, creates a Harvard chapter.

1998 - AEPi, a fraternity, creates a Harvard chapter.

1999 - The Seneca, an organization that works on both social activities and women's advocacy, is founded.The group, which does not identify as a final club, named itself The Seneca after The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848.

2000 - The Isis, the second female final club, is founded.

2002 - The Pleiades Society and Sabliere Society are founded

2003 - Kappa Kappa Gamma, a sorority, creates a Harvard chapter.

2004 - Maureen D. Connolly and Julia M. Lewandoski (both ’06) launch Students Against Super Sexist Institutions-We Oppose Oppressive Finals Clubs (SASSI-WOOFCLUBS) in September, 2004.

2004 – The Spee Club elects its first African-American president, Randall J. Winston ’04-’05

2004 – Maureen D. Connelly ’06 and Julia M. Lewandoski ’06 co-launch “Students Against Super Sexist Institutions-We Oppose Oppressive Finals Clubs (SASSI-WOOFCLUBS).”

2006 – Edward M. Kennedy ’54-’56 severs his ties with the Owl Club. This move comes after conservatives criticize him for speaking out against then-Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito, Jr.’s involvement in the conservative-leaning Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which had (in Kennedy’s words) been formed “to resist the growing influx of female, African American, Hispanic and even disabled students who were changing the face of Princeton ‘as you knew it.’”

2008 - La Vie club is founded by Oluwadara A. Johnson ’10.

2010 – A group of seven students launches an initiative to combat what they perceive as the Final Clubs’ monopoly on Harvard’s social space.

** A significant part of this timeline was taken directly from The Crimson's article published on October 29 "Diversity in Final Clubs".