My first introduction to “final clubs” was in The Social Network; however, Sarah Maslin Nir has a great article in The New York Times about their place at Harvard in 2016:
Today, that description is perpetuated by unwritten codes on who may pass through their doors and who may join. The elaborate courtship of the desirable can begin with an engraved invitation slipped under a dorm room door to “punch” — a selection process that continues with a series of outings and culminates in a black-tie dinner feting the few who make it through.
To many students, the clubs remain potent symbols of privilege, anachronistic and out of place on an increasingly diverse campus.