Adams Declares War on Currier

“Excuse me, you are from Currier,” said Blondell Newbon, a checker for Adams House Dining Hall, as she handed an ID back to one disgruntled Currierite during dinner Tuesday. “I’m sorry, but you can’t eat here.”

Effective Tuesday for an indefinite period, all members of Currier House—including its students, tutors, and faculty—are banned from the entirety of Adams House, according to a declaration of war issued by Adams House on Monday night.

After Currier student tampered with the Adams’ mascot selection process last weekend, Adams responded with a call to arms.

According to Antone Martinho III ’13, Adams HoCo Chair of Special Projects, the link to the online poll was leaked to students in Currier House, who encouraged fellow Currierites to disrupt the selection process by casting votes.

Though Adams has 589 residents, including the newly assigned freshman, the poll received more than 680 votes, Martinho said. About 300 votes were cast for “acorn,” while other options, such as “dragon,” “phoenix,” “unicorn,” and “bear,” split the remaining votes, he said.

“This is part of House life and something that should be contained within its members,” Martinho said. “It was completely unacceptable of Currier to engage in the vote.”

In response to Currier’s involvement in the vote, Adams initiated war at its HoCo meeting Monday night.

In its declaration of war, Adams HoCo named Currier students “pariah and anathema,” and designated Currier House a colony of Adams House.

On Tuesday night, Currier students responded with a letter circulated over its House listserv.

The letter formally accepted the challenge and justified Currier’s participation in the poll by insisting that Adams HoCo “sought to control the outcome through the politics of fear, demanding HUIDs from its citizenry before they could vote.”

The letter also condemned Adams’ “history of unchecked aggression against its neighbors” as well as the “haughty attitudes and priggish insults that Adams has long spewed out from behind gilded gates.”

Members of Currier HoCo could not be reached for comment.

In addition to Adams and Currier, two additional Houses joined forces in solidarity with Currier.

Pforzheimer House published the “Mario Doctrine,” named after Pforzheimer Building Manager and “Secretary of Depfense” Mario E. Leon, which pledges allegiance with Currier. It warns that “the full might and courage of the Pfolar Bear Cavalry shall be unleashed on Adams House if any members of Currier House are harmed or inconvenienced by the treachery and snobbery of Adams House.”

In the “Decree to Save the Tree,” Mather House also allied itself with Currier.

The decree stated that if Adams does not withdraw its declaration of war by midnight on Wednesday, Mather will also declare war in solidarity with its Quad allies.

“After almost eight years of peace, Mather does not wish to enter hostilities with any house,” the decree read. “But where there is tyranny, we will fight for the right to maintain housing independence,”

Currier also anticipates support from Cabot House, according to an email to the Crimson from Nicholas P. Stanford ’12, who is in charge of Currier’s war effort.

According to the declaration drafted by Adams HoCo, the war will persist until “the entire population of the former Currier House makes a suitable act of penance to the students of Adams House.”

The chaos of wartime extends beyond the student body to Adams House staff, who have been asked to ensure that Currier students do not use the Adams dining hall.

Newbon—who swipes students’ IDs in the dining hall—said that by the time the swipe machine displays a student’s House affiliation, the student will likely have already entered the servery, sending her on a wild goose chase for the escaped Currierite.

“I will have to get up and hold the line up when it’s busy,” Newbon said.

Newbon—who has worked with Harvard University Dining Services for 20 years—said that while she can usually tell freshman apart from upperclassmen, Currierites will be more difficult to spot.

“But I will do my best,” Newbon said.

Currier said in its declaration that it will only accept a surrender from Adams under one condition.

“They must adopt the Acorn as their mascot, so that one day their mascot may also blossom into a Tree,” the letter read.

—Staff writer Jane Seo can be reached at janeseo@college.harvard.edu.