Nothing In Common

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III has the issue of the Harvard social life on his agenda. Tough assignment. In an interview with a Crimson reporter, Dean Epps admitted that there exists "a void" in the social life at Harvard which he feels can be filled by the opening of the Loker Commons next January.

Epps defines this "void" by saying that it is not easy for students to meet each other at Harvard. He calls for more interaction between the faculty and the students and he feels that the Loker Commons can provide the location for such interactions. These interactions would in turn fill the "void" that Epps is referring to.

Thus the void or the problem which Epps sees with the social life at Harvard focuses more on an intellectual exchange of ideas that he feels students are not engaging in. If you ask me, I hardly believe that this is what students regard as the problem with the social life here.

What do students feel is the problem with the social life at Harvard? Do students even believe that a problem with the social life exists? No one ever asked me these questions, and I can guarantee that the majority of the Harvard students here were never asked these questions.

If there exists a problem with the Harvard social life (and many, many students would vehemently declare that this is indeed the case) it involves more fundamental issues that go well beyond the presumed lack of a space for social activities.

If the college were to talk with its students, it would probably find that Harvard students feel that the social life here compared to the social life at other schools is skimpy, to say the least. Many may feel that this is because Harvard lacks a Greek system, a fundamental component of the social lives at other universities.

However, Epps believes that the idea of fraternities and sororities is not a positive one. He believes they "represent anti-intellectual, highly social, high-risk activities for students." Thus that may never be a reality again for Harvard students. Nonetheless, Dean Epps seems to concern himself with producing a more intellectual social life at Harvard and his solution doesn't even address what some students would label the problem with the Harvard social scene. A big deal is being made of the Loker Commons. This surely begs an in-depth analysis of the "problem" which the Loker Commons is intended to solve.

Everywhere you turn at Harvard there is an opportunity for the kind of intellectual exchange which Epps calls for. Interactions between faculty and students occur everyday in lecture halls, in sections and during office hours. It can also take place in extracuricular activites, the fourms that are held by many of the institutions at Harvard as well as in the student-run organizations on campus. Maybe these institutions and organizations should incorporate the faculty in its activities, discussions and administration.

Harvard does not lack opportunities for student interaction, either. Students meet each other everyday. These meetings take place in classes, extracurricular activities, parties, bars or final clubs. Students interact at meals, in the library or even in the Yard. Harvard does not need a specific location to satisfy what are natural processes for active human beings. The College does not need to declare the Commons a place of intellectual interaction, when this entire place fosters the ability and the opportunity for an intellectual and cultural exchange between students and faculty members every minute and everywhere.

Perhaps it is a good thing that Dean Epps has placed the Harvard social life on his "things to do" list. It is an issue that many Harvard students feel needs to be addressed. However, Dean Epps has come up with the wrong solution for a "void" or a "problem" that doesn't even exist. In a way, successfully addressing the question of Harvard social life may mean breaking away from Harvard administrators' stubborn belief that a serious and well-thought out intellectual exchange is the defining factor of the Harvard social scene.

Nancy Raine Reyes' column appears alternate Saturdays.