Punches Participate in Initiation Week

It's initiation season again.

While first-year students may wonder why that half-naked guy in a wig was singing a Judy Garland medley in the Union yesterday, more seasoned Harvardians know such an event merely marks the annual rites of final clubs initiation week.

Prospective members, called punches, of Harvard's nine final clubs traditionally go through highly ritualized initiations before they are offered full membership in the clubs.

While initiation rites differ from club to club, several require punches to perform stunts ranging from carrying a keg of beer to class to running in circles while screaming.

The Owl Club's initiation, which started yesterday and will last through the end of this week, is one of the most public.

Its punches--some in brightly-colored outfits and wigs, some in little more than briefs and goose bumps--descended upon lectures and demanded attention throughout campus Tuesday.

"One kid came in in boxers and gave a rose to Professor [Mary T.] O'Rourke, saying that it was from her fans," said Abbas A. Hyderi '95-'96 of her Anthropology 136, "Diet, Nutrition and Human Growth" Tuesday lecture. "Then guys dressed in females' tennis clothes, one of them with a racquet, walked to the end of the classroom and back."

Other punches aspired to higher goals and larger classes.

"My eye caught these guys in Justice [Moral Reasoning 22]," said Wayne G. Marshall '98. "One was wearing a tight pink tank top with leopard print and spandex, and the other one was wearing a tank top too."

"With about fifteen minutes left, they got up and one of them picked his friend up, put him on his shoulders and left," Marshall said.

"Everybody in the class started laughing and [Professor Michael J.] Sandel got all self-conscious," said Justice student Charles K. Everett '98.

Everett was privileged enough to enjoy punches' pranks in more than one class.

"In Gen Ed 105, the guy showed up in tighty-whities and a T-shirt and screamed "Dr. Coles, we love you. Please don't leave," Everett said.

The pranks extended beyond the classroom to Harvard Yard yesterday.

"A bunch of guys in front of Widener were singing something from 'The Wizard of Oz,'--'Over the Rainbow,' I think," said Rebecca Edwards '98. "And in the Union right after twelve, there was a person in long-johns yodeling."

Meanwhile, in front of Sever Hall, two punches, arrayed in white clothing and bow ties, passed out literature concerning the relation of lactose to communist insurgency and offered chocolate milk to passers-by.

And in front of Widener Library, Michelle C. Sullivan '96 said she saw a man moon-walking while wearing a blond wig and one white glove.

"I didn't care to stay once I realized what it was," she said.

Others did. The punches' midday performance on the Widener steps drew a large crowd. At noon, two Owl initiates ran up and down the steps in pantyhose, chanting "If we were shorter, we would be midgets," while others sunbathed in Harvard boxers or rubbed lotion on their fellow punches' backs.

Although Harvard Square and the Yard certainly see their fair share of oddities, the punches' dress and behavior were conspicuous enough to draw a variety of comments.

Some students saw the wacky dress and outlandish behavior as good fun, but others had more mixed reactions.

"I thought it was kind of amusing, but I felt sorry for the guys," Edwards said.

"It was basically pretty harmless, but kind of stupid," Everett said. "It's not that funny, not even original."

A student who requested anonymity had more serious complaints.

"It's sort of out of control," she said. "It would be one thing if there were just one final club, but there's more than one, and it gets really annoying. It seems unfair that they can get away with a lot of stuff that other organizations can't."

"If the BGLSA put on a step show in the middle of class, [the administration] would be all over them," she said. "But because [final clubs] are doing it in the name of tradition it's okay. Authority is just a lot more lenient on them."

Members and punches of the Owl declined to comment.