About 'Stand Up to Harvard'

standuptoharvard.org
#standuptoharvard

On Dec. 3, a group of sororities, fraternities and students filed a pair of lawsuits challenging Harvard’s sanctions policy that punishes students who join off-campus, single-sex* social organizations. These efforts are supported by the National Panhellenic Conference as well as the North American Interfraternity Conference and the organizations in the Cambridge Coalition.  

With the sanctions, Harvard is interfering with students’ rights protected by the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX—a dangerous precedent by one of America’s bellwether higher education institutions. 

Moreover, the lawsuits describe how Harvard used a campaign of threats and intimidation to scare students into abandoning their fundamental rights to free association and to live free of sex discrimination. 

You can visit standuptoharvard.org to read more about the lawsuits, the specific reasons behind them and sign the petition to lend your support. You also may be interested in these articles and video: 

• The Boston Globe: Sororities, fraternities sue Harvard over social club crackdown
• Video: Alpha Phi's International President Renee Zainer explains why standing up to Harvard important
• Tulsa World Editorial: Harvard's banning of sororities and fraternities doesn't fix problems of discrimination, sexual assault

If you have questions about Stand Up to Harvard, NPC's support of this effort or other related questions about women's involvement in the lawsuits, please email NPC. 

Please also follow NPC on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay informed about Stand Up to Harvard and other important programs and initiatives.

* The term “single-sex” is used throughout the Stand Up to Harvard website and related documents in reference to our organizations that are women’s only. Although each member organization defines "woman" differently, we use "single-sex" in these materials because Title IX uses the term "sex" and these lawsuits use Title IX as a basis for the legal claims.

Advocating for the value of the sorority experience

More than 235 fraternity and sorority members, both alumni and students, were on Capitol Hill on April 25 advocating for sororities and fraternities and the value they provide to our members. Our organizations’ values of character and dignity guide our members in their daily lives as they serve their campus and local communities.

Each year since 2002, the Fraternal Government Relations Coalition (FGRC), which is a collaborative effort between the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), Fraternity and Sorority Political Action Committee (FSPAC) and Fraternity and Sorority Action Fund (FSAF), has lobbied in Washington, D.C., in order to educate legislators on the value of sororities and fraternities and the advocacy issues important to NPC and NIC.

The FGRC represents 92 single-sex fraternities and sororities nationwide with more than 800,000 undergraduate members at over 9,500 chapters on almost 700 campuses, as well as more than 9.1 million alumni. The NPC and NIC set and execute the advocacy agenda for the FGRC. This year’s lobbying efforts, with more than 460 meetings between fraternity/sorority members and legislators or their staffs, focused on the value of the fraternity/sorority experience and our priorities for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA).

This topic directly aligns with Pillar One of the NPC Government Relations Platform: Preservation of the sorority experience.

Working together with the NIC, FSPAC and FSAF, our goal is to gain support for protection of our experience through the reauthorization of the HEA. Our members have a constitutional right to freely assemble and associate, but there is a growing trend to punish single-sex organizations for existing by creating barriers and/or penalizing students who join such organizations. Harvard University is just one example as that institution is now blacklisting students who choose to join single-sex social organizations and seeks to force groups to become co-ed against their will. The Harvard policy affects this year’s freshman class and all future students, penalizing those who join single-sex organizations by rendering them ineligible for leadership positions in recognized student organizations, selection as a sports team captain and the Dean’s endorsement for a Rhodes, Marshall or Fulbright scholarship, where such endorsement is a prerequisite for consideration.

But, it’s not just Harvard that is seeking new ways to restrict freedom of association rights. It has become increasingly common for institutions of higher education to regulate and propose policies aimed at forcing single-sex social organizations to become co-ed or imposing burdensome policies and restrictions that undermine a student’s right to freely associate. Examples include blanket suspensions for all sororities and fraternities on a campus when one student or one organization is accused of misconduct and the adoption of operational restrictions that don’t apply to any other student organization on campus, such as not allowing first semester or first year students to choose to join a sorority or fraternity.

Students and alumni gather on Capitol Hill
to advocate for the fraternity and
sorority experience. More photos.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has taken the first step to protect every student’s freedom of association rights, including with single-sex social organizations. The committee’s HEA reauthorization bill – the PROSPER Act – includes language on this issue, but does not address or prevent actions taken by Harvard or a few other campuses that do not already recognize single-sex organizations.

That was our task on April 25 – to encourage House members to perfect the pending language in the PROSPER Act to include all students and to ask senators to include this same language in their own HEA reauthorization bill.

The value of protecting our single-sex experience now and for generations to come cannot be understated. Our organizations create a unique community of support. They are the one place on a college campus, where through a shared single-sex experience, young women or men can enjoy a sense of belonging, empowerment and personal development. NPC and NIC are committed to continuing to advocate for freedom of association rights for our organizations, and we invite you to join us by contacting your representatives here.

Chairman's Message: Celebrating Women's History Month & the Sorority Experience

Celebrated during the month of March in the United States, Women’s History Month traces its beginning back to the first International Women’s Day in 1911. As celebrations of International Women’s Day increased throughout the years, both in public school districts and on college campuses, President Jimmy Carter issued a presidential proclamation in February 1980 declaring the week of March 8,1980, as National Women’s History Week.

Women's History Month is celebrated
in March in the United States
and in October in Canada.
(Graphic source: National Women's History Project)

In 1987, due to the growing popularity of Women’s History Week and after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress declared March as National Women’s History Month in perpetuity. Since then, a presidential proclamation is issued every year honoring the achievements of American women. (Note: In Canada, Women’s History Month is celebrated in October to coincide with Persons Day on October 18. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women and girls as trailblazers throughout Canadian history.)

This year’s Women’s History Month theme is “Nevertheless, She Persisted.” Most certainly, I equate this theme with the women of the National Panhellenic Conference. We are persistent as we advocate for the sorority experience and work to preserve the single-sex experience. And we are persistent in ensuring our sorority and fraternity communities stay vibrant and healthy.

Historically, our member organizations have survived two world wars, the Great Depression, drops in enrollment and public criticism of Greek-letter organizations.

In 1961, when negative opinion of social organizations was at its highest, NPC was persistent and adopted a twofold strategy: to reaffirm the constitutional right of fraternities to exist by virtue of freedom of assembly and to make an energetic stance toward re-educating the public about the value of sororities. 

For more than a decade, while many campuses became epicenters of social unrest for reasons that went far beyond the fraternity/sorority system, NPC walked a precise line in asserting the autonomy of its member organizations and maintaining constructive communication with host institutions. One triumph of collective, persistent action was NPC’s lobbying for the continued legality of single-sex status for fraternities and sororities. This status gained partial protection in 1974, when the U.S. Congress passed an exemption to Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972 to allow colleges and universities to recognize single-sex social organizations.

As new issues continue to arise and our member organizations evolve, new opportunities and challenges are presented that profoundly impact operations and strategy of NPC. We will continue to be persistent by working to protect students’ rights to freely associate with a single-sex organization and preserving the rights of single-sex student organizations—so women can continue to benefit from the sorority experience now and for years to come.

How you can get involved:

• Use hashtag #HearHerHarvard to help support the women who are persistent in preserving their single-sex experience. 
• Stay informed on the latest legislation impacting sororities and single-sex organizations by following your member organization and NPC on social media. 
• When asked by your member organization, reach out to your congressional representatives about legislation designed to protect single-sex organizations at colleges and universities.

Interfraternally,

Carole J. Jones
2017-19 NPC chairman