Fox Club

This article is about the Harvard final club. For the members' club in London, see Fox Club, London. For Fox Club in Missouri, see Fox Theatre (St. Louis).

Fox Club
F
Founded	1898;127 years ago (1898) Harvard University
Type	Final club
Affiliation	Independent
Status	Active
Scope	Local
Chapters	1
Nickname	The Fox
Headquarters	44 John F. Kennedy Street Cambridge , Massachusetts United States
Website	digammaclub.org

The Fox Club is a private all-male final club of Harvard undergraduate students founded in 1898. The Fox Club is not officially affiliated with Harvard University. It is located on John F. Kennedy Street in Harvard Square.

History

The Fox Club was founded in 1898 by six undergraduate students at Harvard University. It is an all-male final club. ^{[1] [2]} Originally known as the Digamma Club, the name Fox and the club's symbol, a fox carrying the letter "F", grew from the similarity between the letter "F" and the archaic Greek character for "digamma", which primarily signifies the number 6. ^[3]

Harvard attempted to impose sanctions against members of single-gender final clubs, preventing members from holding student group leadership positions, serving as varsity athletic team captains, and from having fellowships endorsed by the college. ^{[4] [2]} However, after acknowledging that this policy against final clubs violated federal law, Harvard rescinded all sanctions in 2019. ^[5]

In 2015, the Fox Club was one of the first of Harvard's final clubs to contemplate admitting women, but only on a provisional basis by the club's undergraduate board. ^[2] In an August 2015 vote by the club's undergraduate members, nine women were given provisional membership. ^[4] This vote was taken without input from the club's graduate members who revoked the nine women's provisional membership. ^{[2] [4] [6]}

In May 2019, The Harvard Crimson reported that a vote of all Fox Club graduate members had failed to reach the two-thirds affirmative majority necessary to change membership policies. ^{[7] [8]}

Symbols

The club's nickname is the Fox. ^[1] Its symbol is an upright fox carrying the letter "F". ^[3]

Fox Club, 44 John F. Kennedy Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Club house

The Fox Club house is located on 44 John F. Kennedy Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ^{[1] [3]} It was built in 1902 and designed by Guy Lowell, a prominent American architect who also designed the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. ^[9] The Fox Club house is a contributing structure in the Harvard Square National Historic District and in the local Harvard Square Conservation District. ^[9]

Notable members

• J. Sinclair Armstrong, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ^[10]
• Steve Ballmer, former chief executive officer of Microsoft ^{[11] [8]}
• Birendra of Nepal, King of Nepal from 1972 to 2001 ^{[12] [8]}
• Van Wyck Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, literary critic, and biographer ^[13]
• T. S. Eliot, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic ^{[14] [4]}
• Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ^{[15] [11] [4]}
• Hermann Hagedorn, American author, poet, and biographer ^[16]
• Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., U.S. Senate and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Holy See ^{[17] [18] [4]}
• John Davis Lodge, 79th governor of Connecticut, U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. ambassador to Spain, Argentina, and Switzerland ^[19]
• Maxwell Perkins, literary editor and publisher who gave writers Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald their start. ^[20]
• Sinclair Weeks, U.S. Senator and 13th U.S. Secretary of Commerce ^[21]
• Paul Withington, college football coach ^[22]
• Paul Wylie, figure skater ^[23]
• Fernando Zóbel de Ayala y Montojo, painter ^{[24] [25]}

See also

• Harvard College social clubs

References

Notes

1. Edwards, Sally E.; Montgomery, Asher J. (March 18, 2024). "'Cease and Desist': Cambridge Orders Harvard Final Club to Leave Residential Zone". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
2. Shaw, Jonathan (July 12, 2017). "Harvard to Ban Final Clubs Outright?". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
3. McAuley, James K. "The Men's Final Clubs | Flyby". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
4. Stanglin, Doug. "Harvard social club revokes membership for 9 women, reverts to all-male status". USA TODAY. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
5. "Policy on Unrecognized Single-Gender Social Organizations". June 29, 2020.
6. Hallemann, Caroline (July 5, 2017). "Harvard's Fox Club Is All-Male Once Again". Town & Country. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
7. "Fox Club to Remain All-Male as Graduate Members Once Again Reject Co-Ed Proposal". The Harvard Crimson.
8. Ziv, Stav (July 5, 2017). "Women Not Welcome at Harvard's Fox Club, Again". Newsweek. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
9. Mills Whitaker Architects (May 25, 2023). "The Fox Club – Certificate of Appropriateness Narrative" (PDF). City of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
10. Martin, Douglas (November 9, 2000). "J. Sinclair Armstrong, S.E.C. Chief, Dies at 85". The New York Times. p. D8. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved September 13, 2024.
11. Leibovich, Mark (December 31, 2000). "Alter Egos". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
12. No writer attributed (December 7, 1983). "Ex-Harvard Student to Return as King". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
13. Hoopes, James (1997). Van Wyck Brooks: In Search of American Culture. Amherst: Univ of Massachusetts Press. pp. 29–30. ISBN   0-87023-212-6.
14. Kirsch, Adam (July 1, 2015). "The Young T.S. Eliot". Harvard Magazine.com. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
15. Seward, Zachary M (March 22, 2007). "Gates Will Address Grads". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
16. Hermann Hagedorn
17. Gale, Mary Ellen (November 4, 1960). "Lodge at Harvard: Loyal Conservation 'Who Knew Just What He Wanted to Do'". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
18. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
19. John Davis Lodge
20. "Maxwell Perkins: editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Dawn Powell, and Thomas Wolfe", Library of America , Monday, September 20, 2010]
21. "Fox Club, 1954 - 1957". Dartmouth Libraries Archives & Manuscripts. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
22. "Harvard Leader a Bridegroom. Withington Married Miss Restarick". The Boston Globe. April 19, 1911. p. 4. Retrieved September 13, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
23. Nessralla, Richelle (February 27, 1992). "Olympians Come Back With Medals". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved October 30, 2007.
24. Pereda, Felipe (December 6, 2022). "Fernando Zóbel-Montojo". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
25. Laya, Jaime (January 1, 2023). "Zobel and Luna at the Museo del Prado". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved September 13, 2024.

Bibliography

• "Fox Club Undergraduate Association, Inc., Summary Screen", The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts, William Francis Galvin, Secretary Of The Commonwealth, Corporations Division

External links

• Media related to Fox Club at Wikimedia Commons

42°22′20.5″N71°7′12.3″W / 42.372361°N 71.120083°W / 42.372361; -71.120083