The Lion Club is an all-male

final club Harvard College has several types of social clubs. These are split between coeducational clubs recognized by the college, and unrecognized single-sex clubs which were subject to College sanctions in the past. The Hasty Pudding Club holds claim ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, sometimes referred to as The Lion. The club was originally founded in 1893 as a chapter of the

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon () is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on March 9, 1856.Baird, William Raimond, ed. (1905).Baird's Manual of American College Fratern ...

fraternity, and established finality (not allowing members to join other final clubs) following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

History

The Lion was originally founded as a Greek letter organization in 1893 by Harvard University students H. C. Buckminster and W. Brackett, gaining an official charter from the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity as the ''Massachusetts Gamma chapter''. Known as S.A.E., the group abided by the same rules imposed on the other final clubs on campus despite maintaining an active charter with a national fraternal organization. For decades, the club occupied a space at 1326 Massachusetts Avenue, immediately next to the

Porcellian Club The Porcellian Club is an all-male Officially unrecognized Harvard College social clubs, final club at Harvard University, colloquially known as the Porc or the P.C. Its founding is traditionally dated to either 1791, when a group began meetin ...

, above what was then the Hayes-Bickford Cafeteria and is now Clover Food Labs. The club has since maintained a members-only lounge in Oak Square. Despite their continued connection with the national organization, ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. His ...

'' reported in 1953 that the S.A.E. Club maintained its own rules regarding discriminatory admissions and had "no race or religious restrictions." Historically, the club operated as a "non-final" club, with some members of S.A.E. joining a separate final club. Following the

, the club rebranded as the Lion and established finality with its membership. The club currently operates a traditional punch process for sophomore and junior men at the college.

Notable alumni

* Edward Johnson III (1954) - Billionaire businessman and former CEO of Fidelity Investments * Robin Wynne (1975) - Arkansas Supreme Court judge *

Jim Guy Tucker James Guy Tucker Jr. (June 13, 1943 – February 13, 2025) was an American politician, businessman and attorney who served as the 43rd governor of Arkansas from 1992 until his resignation in 1996 after his conviction for fraud during the White ...

(1964) - 43rd Governor of Arkansashttps://www.sae.net/prominent_sae_alumni_location/harvard/

References

{{authority control Harvard College social clubs Clubs and societies in the United States Student societies in the United States 1893 establishments in Massachusetts Student organizations established in 1893