The Nation: Rights v. Rotarians

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Top civic officials almost automatically join the jovial, do-gooding Rota ry Club, but in Davis, Calif, (pop.

38,000), the mayor has been excluded.

So has the city finance director, the personnel director, the community devel opment director, the chairman of the school board and the president of the Chamber of Commerce. All are wom en, and the international charter bars them. Sympathetic local Rotarians say they would just as soon let women in, but they are helpless.

Some of Davis' women, like Gloria McGregor, the community development director, would like to gain admittance.

But Mayor Joan Poulos takes a relaxed view, suggesting that not every last area of sexual segregation has to be battered down. After all, some Davis women's groups, including the Soroptimists, continue to bar men. And, she notes, "no serious public business is conducted at Ro tary Club luncheons."