Since the late 1800’s, Harvard has struggled with the integration of women into the University as well as figuring out what role social organizations should play at the school. For most of Harvard's history, change has occurred slowly, the result of both internal and external pressures over long periods of time. However, occasionally, the administration has intervened on this natural development, imposing policies to try and bring about rapid and extreme change. Recently the school has implemented a policy that will fundamentally change the school’s current relationship with both the issues outlined above. In December 2017, the Harvard Corporation, the oldest Corporation in the Western Hemisphere, voted to keep in place a controversial policy announced in May 2016 that: “Students matriculating in the fall of 2017 and thereafter who become members of Unrecognized Single-Gender Social Organizations (USGSO) will not be eligible to hold leadership positions in recognized student organizations or on athletic teams. In addition, such students will not be eligible for fellowships administered by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.”

This project will explore the history of women and women's organizations at Harvard, the role these groups currently play in the lives of Harvard women, and the impact that the school's Social Organization policy will have on them going forward. As the president and chief executive officer of a Harvard sorority, I hope that through a careful analysis of the past, present and future of these groups, I can be the best leader during this time of change and uncertainty.