Harvard to bar members of all-male clubs from leading groups

BOSTON (AP) — Students who join Harvard's male-only social clubs won't be able to serve as sports captains or leaders of other campus groups starting in fall 2017.

The new policy, announced Friday by Harvard's first female president, also applies to other unofficial single-gender groups on campus, including fraternities and sororities.

Top officials at the university have been pushing those groups to stop excluding students based on gender even though they aren't officially recognized by the school.

Harvard alumni in the Porcellian Club have insisted that sexual assault isn't a problem in their club, and one suggested that allowing women would actually increase the potential for sexual misconduct.

A university spokeswoman said the school will form a group of faculty, students and administrators to help implement the new policy and to devise enforcement options.