All of the male clubs have privately-owned club houses in which they have resided for decades, each of which include amenities such as dining halls, chefs, libraries, game rooms, bedrooms and lounges.[citation needed] The Bee Club rents space at 45 Dunster Street. Isis, the Sabliere Society and the Pleiades do not currently have spaces.[citation needed] Most of the final clubs do not provide housing to their members who have not graduated yet, nor are they affiliated with national organizations (anymore, that is-- the Spee began its life as Zeta Psi and the A.D., the Delphic and the Fly all began as Alpha Delta Phi; other remnants remain as well). Long affiliated with and supported by Harvard, the male final clubs were ordered in 1984 to either go coeducational or go private. The clubs privatized and since then have maintained themselves beyond university regulation. The clubs own valuable property in Cambridge, collectively assessed at over $17 million as of 2006, but with a market value likely exceeding that figure.
Historically, there was more differentiation among the clubs. Years ago Harvard College freshmen hoped to join the Hasty Pudding social club. Going into their senior year, aspiring students hoped to join either the A.D. or Porcellian, the original two final clubs. In the interim, their hope was to gain admittance to one of the "waiting clubs," as the other clubs were known.
Each fall the clubs hold "punch season," which is similar to the rush period for fraternities. Select sophomores and juniors are invited to a series of four social events. After each event, fewer and fewer prospective members, or "punches" are invited back. After the last event, called "final dinner", a club will elect a handful of new members who then choose among the clubs they have been asked to join. Being "punched" refers to receiving an invitation to the first punch event. Once the punch process has begun, the verb "to punch" can also refer to a prospective member's attending of the events, e.g. "Barnaby is punching the Fox and the Owl."
The clubs have an undergraduate membership of around sixty a piece, amounting to nearly 20% of the eligible (2nd semester of sophomore year and older) male undergraduates and 5% of eligible female undergraduates. The clubs have varying restrictions on entrance for guests. Some final clubs often hold parties and open their doors to women and male guests of members. Others, like the A.D., have only in recent history opened their doors to female guests of members and still do not allow male guests. Still others, like the Porcellian, and the Delphic, rarely allow non-members in; in the Porcellian's case, this means that they never allow non-members past a small room by the entrance called "the bicycle room," while the Delphic has a guest room in the basement with a separate entrance.
One interesting component of the debate is the rise of a significant fraternity and sorority presence at Harvard. In a short period of time, three female final clubs (The Bee, Isis and The Sablière Society), five fraternities (Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi, Phi Iota Alpha, Alpha Epsilon Pi), three sororities (Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Gamma, and Kappa Alpha Theta), and two additional all female organizations (The Seneca and The Pleiades) have greatly expanded the presence of formal social organizations at the College. Though Harvard recognizes none of these groups, informal estimates suggest that up to 800 students of the college (one eighth) belong to single-sex social clubs. However, many would make distinctions-- especially between male and female final clubs and their Greek counterparts-- because final clubs are perceived as, and may be, more elitist in their practices; both in terms of the attitude fostered among club members, the extravagance of the spaces they enjoy, and the culture of wealth from which each spring and supports.
Detractors from the all-male social organizations often ignore other single-sex social clubs in presenting their otherwise reasonable critique. Recently, Sigma Chi, The Bee, and The Seneca have all obtained property in Harvard Square. While Sigma Chi throws public parties, The Bee has so far used its space primarily for internal socializing.
In January of 2006 national attention focused on the Harvard Final Club system as a result of the confirmation hearings of Samuel Alito. Alito came under criticism as a result of his membership in Concerned Alumni of Princeton, a conservative group that opposed affirmative action and the admission of women into Princeton. One of the leading Democrats highlighting this charge was Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. Conservatives, however, responded by pointing out Kennedy's membership in the Owl Club. As a result of the political fallout, Senator Kennedy chose to leave the club.
In August of that same year, Massachusetts Democratic Gubernatorial candidate (and now Governor) Deval Patrick came under fire for his membership in the Fly Club. Critics viewed Patrick's membership in the club as contradictory to his image as a champion of civil rights. Patrick countered that he had left the club in the early 1980s when he realized that it contradicted his values, although the club itself had Patrick's name on its roster as late as 2006.