The fate of Harvard's Fox Club will fall, for now, on the side of tradition. Thursday morning, a vote to authorize the continued election of female members narrowly failed.

The Crimson reported:

The resolution garnered 63.5 percent affirmative graduate votes, just short of the two-thirds majority required for approval, according to an email from Fox graduate board president Hugh M. Nesbit '77. A total of 548 Fox graduates participated in the vote, according to a copy of Nesbit's email to club graduates early Thursday evening that was obtained by The Crimson. …The vote will now likely put the Fox at odds with a new administrative policy that penalizes involvement in unrecognized, single-gender social groups. That policy, which is slated to go into effect with the Class of 2021, will bar members of single-gender social groups from holding leadership positions in recognized groups as well as receiving College endorsement for fellowships like the Rhodes and the Marshall.

Back in October, the once and future all-male club accepted a group of women—months before Harvard administrators would pressure all single-sex clubs to do the same. Members claimed shortly after that the administration had "forced their hand." Whether the spirit of gender inclusivity or administrative threats motivated fall's policy shift, the break from tradition upset the graduate board, who fired their board chairman and shut the house down in November.

This May, a controversial decree from on-high all but confirmed an overbearing administrative agenda forced the Fox to elect women. And with yesterday morning's vote, the graduates, compelled by "our sense of duty to protect the club that we love," claimed a victory for fellowship.