Leverett Wants to Give 'Chance to Participate'

Master Leigh Hoadley of Leverett has a clear philosophy about Houses: "A House should provide all the activities possible--someone will be interested. It must give every student the chance to participate in things." Furthermore, Hoadley has implemented this philosophy in Leverett, and it has come to characterize his House.

Leverett has always had good representation in College-wide activities, but in a smaller unit within the large College, Hoadley has given Leverett men opportunities to work and celebrate on a less demanding level.

No other House has embraced so may activities as Leverett has. Perhaps because he is a professor of Zoology, Hoadley accepts their evolution and their cycles as they rise and fall and rise again to meet the interest of House members. Always Hoadley is on hand to help see that there are outlets for every student.

Coming Up With New Activities

But Leverett has done more than provide a varied program for members each year; basically because of the initiative of its Master, it leads all the other Houses in coming up with new activities. While many of these have been adopted by other Masters in other Houses, nowhere have they been so successful as at Leverett.

Among its "firsts" Leverett can count its Sophomore dinner for new House members, held in addition to dinners at the Master's apartment for small groups of the incoming class, and concentration dinners for all the students in the House in a give field. Both these events are usually preceded by sherry and followed by a short talk by a guest of note invited to attend.

Careful to see that such affairs don't interrupt the free routine of the House, Hoadley provided a special meeting room for the concentration dinners the invented and all other House organizations to use. He feels it important to keep the common room open for the other House members.

In addition to the annual Junior-Senior dinner, Hoadley initiated foreign repasts for the House at large. He has already held a German hofbrau replete with knackwurst, black, strudel, and beer, to Leverett men's great acclaim, and will produce an Italian spaghetti and chianti dinner shortly.

All these affairs are Hoadley's babies. Though Leverett has what is considered the strongest senior faculty staff among the Houses, it is so good that the University is constantly distracting it with committee duty elsewhere, and Hoadley has had to carry a larger burden that most Masters. He has succeeded, however, and for that reason he typifies the House.

Typical of the Master in the help he has given the Leverett House Dramatic Society. When a group of students last year decided to form what has already proven itself a successful organization for the production of one-act plays, Hoadley stayed up late into the night reading possible selections. He wanted to help as much as he could to make the undertaking a success.

Senior Tutor Gill Helps

Hoadley has been receiving help, too. Though he lost his friendly and student-conscious senior tutors, Arnold M. Soloway, to Littauer this year, Richard T. Gill has been a perfect replacement in the post.

An economist who has a fine bass voice and writes short stories, Gill has been pressed into service by a group of Leverett men seeking to reestablish the House glee club, which should be in operation next year. Since Leverett has several members of the creative writing branch of the English department on its staff, Gill thinks a creative writing group may be in the offing.

It is wrong to say that Hoadley and Gill are Leverett House; they are the first to point out that they are not. But what they have contributed is all conducive to spirit, though they insist their parts rise out of the spirit of the House members.

At any rate, this spirit definitely runs high. It shows most plainly at the well-attended House dances. A few years ago, the House dance committee had a running battle with the inter-House organization over inter-changeable tickets. These allow the the purchaser to attend whichever House dance he wants and Leverett always seemed to be swamped with celebrants.

What's Leverett Called?

Leverett is well populated with athletes, but it is not called "the Athletic House." It consistently places high in intramural sports, but it is not called "the Straus House." Despite its sometime orchestra and glee club, it is not called "the Music House." It has been forced to share with almost every House the title of "the Friendly House."

But Leverett can claim its position as "the House of Origins" free and clear. This name is apt, however, only if one realizes the spirit that lies beneath it. Evidently it is a spark that makes Masters: Adams and Dunster Houses are led by Leverett men.

Make Room

Tentative vacancies in Leverett for next year include: 19 doubles ($140-240); 12 triples ($150-205); and 16 quadruples (115-195).