About ‘Stand Up to Harvard’
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 npcstanduptoharvard@npcwomen.org.
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.