Feminist Wife Forced Deval Patrick to Quit Men’s Club at Harvard
            The feminist wife of Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick, revealed last week that she was the one who forced him to resign from a men’s Club at Harvard - - -  because it discriminates against women, according to her.
          Her husband, Patrick released a statement last week that he resigned from “The Fly Club” in 1983, because his wife (then his girlfriend Diane) told him it was inappropriate for him to belong.
          These revelations are certain to embarrass Patrick now that many observers are already questioning whether he is strong enough to be a leader when his own wife bosses him around. Patrick will also become the subject of cartoons; talk-show hosts will have a field day ridiculing him on the air.
         The Globe did an excellent job of creating this unimportant brouhaha in a very long, 899-word article last Thursday, which ran prominently on the front page of the Metro section with a picture of the very attractive, historic Club. It said that nine of the exclusive men’s clubs, which are similar to fraternities or sororities, still remain.
          “When I came to Harvard for college, joining the Fly Club was the equivalent of pledging a fraternity. I was 19,” Patrick told the Globe. “I resigned my membership when Diane raised issues. I haven’t been in the building in more than two decades.”
          The Globe also revealed that Senator Kennedy quit his club only this year, taking heat after his attacks against Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito for belonging to a Princeton group.
          Many observers say that Patrick’s club should be praised for inviting Patrick, who is black, to become a member in the 1970s. Patrick later went on to Harvard Law School, graduating in 1983.

What Is Diane’s Role?
          There’s no indication what caused the Globe to focus on men’s fraternities last week, as well as on Deval Patrick’s role in one of them. But it appeared to most that one of the reasons for the Globe story is that Patrick is not the choice of Pinch Sulzberger, owner of the Globe, to become the next Governor of Massachusetts.              There is also no indication that any of Diane’s feminist friends at the Globe or elsewhere believe her husband would be a good choice for Governor. This includes the reporter who wrote the article, Frank Phillips, who must also be presumed to be a feminist. His boss, Pinch Sulzberger has proudly said many times that he, Sulzberger, is a feminist.
          Sulzberger is also remembered as a man who has not proven to be a friend of black people. He was responsible for the Jayson Blair scandal where Sulzberger used Blair as a token black and had him reporting important stories that no young, inexperienced person could possibly be expected to do and then savagely attacked him when he was unable to do so. As a result, in desperation Sulzberger fired his two top editors, both close friends of his, but not himself.

Extreme Feminists at Globe Damaged Deval Patrick
          It was extreme feminists who damaged Deval Patrick with Reporter Phillips quoting them all in his Globe article:
          “The 2002 roster [of the Fly Club] lists Patrick's Milton home address where he has lived since 1989, his home telephone number, and his e-mail address at Texaco, the oil giant for which he worked until 2001. The club uses the roster list to send mailings to its members, according to several past officers of the club. The addresses and contacts are updated primarily by its members, the roster states.
          “[Patrick’s campaign office] did not provide a response yesterday when asked whether Patrick has received Fly Club literature over the years.
          “It is unlikely that the campaign for governor will turn on a matter of what clubs Patrick belonged to. Still, Patrick's decision to join one of the elite all-male clubs appears somewhat incongruous, as he touts his civil rights record as a key selling point in the Democratic primary race.
          “Wendy Murphy, a professor at the New England School of Law and a strong advocate for using litigation to advance women's equality, said Patrick's joining the Fly Club opens a fair inquiry into ‘his commitment to equality of citizens of all persons.’
          “Murphy said that when Patrick joined the club in the mid-1970s, the issue of discrimination against women was at the forefront of social issues at the time. Harvard's elite all-male clubs, Murphy said, are a ‘throwback to an era when almost everything was based on social class and exclusion. When he joined, that should have been particularly clear."
          “The Patrick campaign dismissed the criticism as ‘ridiculous.’ ‘To call into question a lifetime of work fighting for civil rights, including an appointment by President Clinton to head our nation's civil rights division and service at the NAACP legal defense fund, over one decision Deval Patrick made as an undergraduate at Harvard is totally ridiculous,’ said Libby DeVecchi, a spokeswoman for Patrick's campaign.
          “It could not be determined yesterday why Patrick's name continues to appear on the membership roster, along with his updated addresses. A spokesman for The Fly Club could not be reached yesterday. But one former alumni officer of the club, who served in the early 1970s, said the organization's bookkeeping is sloppy. ‘Both undergraduate and graduate officers change every couple of years,’ said Casimir de Rham, a retired Boston lawyer who graduated in 1946. ‘He may have resigned, and someone new came in and his letter of resignation was misplaced.’
          “The 170-year-old Fly Club has been at the center of the debate at Harvard over the nine all-male clubs that provide to their members luxurious clubhouses replete with dining facilities, billiard tables, and libraries around Harvard Square. Harvard severed official ties to the clubs in 1984 after failing to persuade them to admit women.
          “The Fly Club's alumni membership rolls include Franklin D. Roosevelt, former governor William F. Weld, the Aga Khan, and Winthrops, Lodges, and Adamses. But it is also the first of the clubs to admit African-Americans. Still, that has not insulated the club from charges of discrimination. In 1987, a female Harvard student filed an antidiscrimination suit with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, claiming she had been denied the advantage that her male colleague enjoyed through membership in the clubs. She particularly cited The Fly Club in her complaint, which was dismissed by the MCAD. The agency said it did not have legal jurisdiction.           "’As we all know, final clubs are throwbacks to an era of racism, sexism, and class elitism at Harvard,’ wrote Sarah M. Seltzer, a 2005 Harvard graduate, in the Harvard Crimson last year. ‘But this is made even worse by these clubs' appropriation of what is hot at Harvard. Guys in final clubs,’ she wrote, are considered “it” by a large portion of this student body, at our own expense.’"

 Why Is Wellesley College Omitted from the Discussion?
         One question that was omitted from the Globe discussion was why Wellesley College can remain without criticism as a school where men are not allowed at all.