Social Life
Everyone knows that students come to college for more than just studying. Even at Harvard, a lot of us close up our books on Friday and Saturday night and head out looking for something to do. The options are not great. With house community waning in the face of ever-increasing randomization, students are left with Boston's bars and clubs, and often competitive extra-curriculars that do not allow students to engage with people of different interests. Perhaps the most perplexing facet of campus life is the fact that the only physical spaces on campus devoted to social life are owned by the eight all-male final clubs and one fraternity, making social life at Harvard very gender-inbalanced. Whether or not students attend these clubs, they are nevertheless a very tangible and visible reminder of Harvard's male history.
Harvard's administration refuses to acknowledge a proper role in developing a social community at Harvard. "How can it be helpful to students' development as adults and as citizens for the College to assume responsibility for seeing to it that students do not feel they need to study on Friday nights?" Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis asked in a Harvard Crimson article (Officials, Students Debate Social Scene, March 3, 1999). In this article, we seek to outline some of the arenas for a social life at Harvard.
House Life
After freshman year, students leave the close-knit yard and move onto one of the twelve houses spread across campus. These houses provide students with their home away from home. Each has a library, common room, piano practice room, laundry room, and dining hall. Originally students chose the house they wanted to live in - spawning houses with individual personalities and reputations. Houses provided a welcoming community to the students, and there was strong house loyalty and enthusiasm. The houses were the social center of the college for most students.
Five years ago the administration decided to randomize the process that determines which upperclassmen dorm freshman are placed into. This was done to eliminate the cliquey atmosphere of the houses. As a result, however, the sense of community in the houses decreased. Although House Committees sponsor multiple events throughout the year, these events are not as well attended as in the past. Students are also permitted to register to hold parties in their rooms, however these are usually confined to a small size of familiar faces due to space and noise constraints. All in all, the house system no longer adequately provides an environment for students to get to know others outside their core group of friends.
Articles or Editorials from the Harvard Crimson on the House System:
Smaller Blocking Groups Encourage Stress, Strain Friendships March 15, 2000
Bringing Home a Solution December 9, 1999
House Community in Jeopardy September 28, 1999
Harvard Square and Boston
Harvard is in a prime location. Harvard square provides a lot of fun with bars such as Grafton Street, the Crimson Grille, and the Bow and Arrow (featured in the movie Good Will Hunting). You can grab a hamburger at Charlie's Kitchen until 2am, pizza from Tommy's House of Pizza until 3am and the Hong Kong provides full Chinese dinners until 3am. And of course Boston provides countless social opportunities that are highlighted in the unofficial guide given to all Harvard Students on move in day. These opportunities are always fun but it is hard to get together with a lot of Harvard students in such public places.
Final Clubs
"To the people who occasionally and indifferently visit them, parties at final clubs are like Chicken Parm in the Dining Hall: fairly disgusting, but the best Harvard has to offer. To the (all male, with the exception of the Bee) members and their routine guests, final clubs are a necessary and fun solution to Harvard's cold and vast impersonality: a place to make friends, hang out, drink beer, meet girls and belong. To others, less indifferent and less optimistic, the final clubs represent the worst of Harvard, embodying a sexism and elitism that is at once degrading and dangerous. The inexplicable dearth of parties at Harvard complicates the debate, making tacit supporters out of passerby..." The Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard, 1999
Final clubs, and one fraternity, are the only social groups with physical spaces on campus dedicated to social life at Harvard. Started a century ago when Harvard students were predominantly white males, final clubs were originally developed to be the "final" stop in a network of social clubs through which students progressed during their four years. These clubs all had large mansions in and around Harvard Square, and prospective members were hand-picked to enter the "punch" process. These clubs were tied closely to the tradition of the school, and such notable alums as John F. Kennedy and Theodore Roosevelt each belonged to one.
In 1984, Harvard University formally announced that it would no longer recognize the clubs because they only admitted male students. However, Harvard's blind eye does not hinder the clubs from being a predominate force on campus: eight of the all-male clubs still exist, and as the above passage shows, they play a critical role on Harvard's campus.
The all-male final clubs offer invaluable benefits to their members including countless networking and social opportunities. Alumni remain in close contact through financial support, help with job searches, and attending regular dinners. But final clubs are much more than just a gentlemen's club for their members to dine and socialize. The clubs are extremely visible on campus: for every guy that belongs to one, there are roommates, girlfriends, teammates and acquaintances who are connected to one. Final clubs are a conspicuous venue for social gatherings, late night parties, dinner dances and barbecues. Admittance to these events is almost always dependent on who you know. Your ticket into this social scene requires knowing a man; women are always guests.
Articles or Editorials from the Harvard Crimson on the Final Clubs:
To Thine Own Self Be True March 15, 2000
Other Social Groups
The past decade has seen other social groups on campus spring up. Harvard now has eight final clubs, two fraternities, three sororities and one female final club. In addition, The Seneca formed in the spring of 1999 (see History for more about how we started.) Although women's groups are rising in number, none of us have any property - and thus Harvard's "old boys network" persists as men control the door to a significant portion of social life on campus.
Conclusion
Harvard needs some kind of student space where all Harvard students are welcome to socialize and interact. Former Dean of Students, Dean Epps believed that healthy social interaction is essential for Harvard, because it will attract the interesting students. The college has a responsibility to help students develop their social side.
Epps was one of the only members of the administration who supported the idea of a student center. "The proposal for a student center is not getting the support from my colleagues that it needs," says Epps (Epps, Council Throw in Towel on Student Center, Seek Alternative Space May 21, 1999). His position as Dean of Students has since been eliminated and as a result, despite the fact that social space has been a student priority, the idea for a student center has been dropped (The College's Missing Dean February 16, 2000) .
The Seneca hopes to achieve many goals towards creating a community at Harvard. If we achieve our goal to acquire a house, we will be the first women's group on campus to be able to host events of our own. We intend to make the house available to other women's groups on campus, operating as a sort of women's center. We also plan to use the space to host campus events, open to all Harvard students, in a welcoming tradition we have already established through Frost, Red Party, and the Seneca Speaker Series.
A Good Time is Hard to Find April 16, 1999
