Bringing Home a Solution

Four years post-randomization, undergraduate life at Harvard is at a turning point. As Houses move further away from their former "personalities," students are becoming less interested in participating in House events. Social life for many students is moving off-campus, and a House-centered social system is seriously threatened. Undergraduates spend increasing amounts of time in extracurricular organizations, yet student groups are severely under-funded and must fight with Extension School classes for precious meeting and performing space. I believe that the problems of both student groups and the Houses can be alleviated through a mutually beneficial system of student group-House affiliation. The College must take action to ensure that student groups can continue their activities and to ensure that Houses remain the center of social life.

Student groups have become the lifeblood of the campus; their plays, performances, fundraising dances and cultural events provide much-needed social events open to everyone. But current space allocations are not sufficient. Relegated to the basement of Lowell Lecture Hall and similar inconvenient locations, many groups get the message that they are merely marginal to the College. Office space is the best way for a group to ensure its survival; without an office, groups frequently dissolve as seniors graduate and no one is left to continue the organization. Yet only a lucky few groups have offices in the coveted Yard basements, while countless groups are on the waiting list.

Performance space is also at a premium. Within a few years, there is a possibility that the Agassiz theatre will no longer give preference to undergraduate performances. Losing the Agassiz will only worsen the lack of space on campus. If groups are going to survive and continue producing events, the space problem must be solved.

The problem facing the House system is quite different. While student groups are growing in number but lacking in resources, Houses are feeling the effects of decreased student involvement. Post-randomization, students no longer have the social ties within their Houses that existed before. The administration's decision to reduce blocking group size was an admission that something needs to be done to increase community within the Houses. But will smaller blocking groups alone increase House community?

Steps must be taken to ensure that Houses remain central to undergraduate social life. Despite popular opinion, Harvard students are not inherently asocial. Popular House events like the Leverett House Eighties Dance and the Adams House Masquerade (from which hundreds of students had to be turned away) prove that students will flock to social events if given the opportunity. More large, campus-wide House events are necessary to satisfy student desire and to bring the campus community together.

By affiliating student groups with Houses, I believe the problems facing both groups and the larger campus community can be alleviated. The Student Group-House Affiliation proposal which is presently being brought to the Masters asks that each House donate one room as a student group office. In order to operate, many student group leaders say that their organization needs only a filing cabinet, a phone line and a computer. By outfitting the student group offices with these amenities, resources could be shared among the groups, helping to ensure the survival of many valuable undergraduate organizations.

Furthermore, as a benefit of affiliation, student groups could receive the guidance of House faculty and members of the Senior Common Room; this affiliation could provide the student group with the advising that is currently lacking in the merely nominal association of faculty "advisors." Finally, groups would benefit by being granted preferences to the reservation of House facilities such as JCRs, dining halls, classrooms and private dining halls. This system of preferences in a student group's own House would do much to improve the confusing and complicated process of room reservation that currently exists.

Houses would similarly benefit from affiliation. Each House would be home to many more cultural, musical, political and community-service groups which would add character to the House of their affiliation. Social life would return to the Houses as student groups held larger, campus-wide events in conjunction with the House community. House spirit would improve as each student group contributed to the sense of community and House personality by providing events and services that were non-alcoholic, non-exclusive and non-discriminatory in nature. Furthermore, the College could oversee this through a pre-existing organizational structure that allows for the different preferences of the Masters and the House communities.

Obviously, many questions will arise about this proposal. Will Houses have the necessary resources and space for student groups? How will particular student groups be matched with Houses? Will decisions be left to the Masters, the student groups or the College? These are reasonable and pertinent questions, but I believe that together student groups, House Masters and the administration can establish a system which will take the concerns of each group into account.

The House system is a wonderful system. Its goal, to make smaller communities within a large university, is both effective and admirable. The construction of a student center was rejected, in large part, because it had the potential to draw away from House community. This is a valid rationale for its rejection.

Nevertheless, problems with both the Houses and the student groups continue to exist. Right now, student life at the college is in limbo. Will social life return to a House-based center? Or will groups further fracture as students spend more time in extracurricular activities, while turning to organizations outside of Harvard for a social outlet? I believe that it is in the best interests of both the students and the College to return the focus to House life. The results of such an affiliation would tremendously benefit the entire undergraduate community.

Beth A. Schonmuller '01 is a history and literature concentrator in Kirkland House. She is the chair of the student space task force of the Undergraduate Council.