What First-years Should Know: Just three years ago, Harvard was a different College

While seniors and first-years may not share childhood memories of Atari and Teddy Ruxpin, their experiences at Harvard will also be radically different.

They may take the same classes and join the same student organizations, but this year's first-years will never go to a Strawberry Tea or eat late night burgers at the Tasty.

First-years, listen up: when seniors were in your place, they had to buy textbooks at the Coop.

"It's so much more convenient just to log on, rather than dealing with those crazy lines at the Coop and carrying the heavy shopping bin," says Maura M. Pelham '00.

Not that the last few years have seen only improvements. The jury is still out on the fundamental changes.

Some seniors laud--while others curse--randomization and the effects it has had on their Harvard lives. But the Class of '03 won't have anything to compare it to.

When seniors entered their Houses, there was one non-randomized class in residency and the Houses' distinct personalities were still evident.

"Now no one really has any idea of what the pre-randomization system was," said Noah Z. Seton '00, Undergraduate Council president.

Jeffrey R. Gu '00 voiced the divided opinion about randomization.

"It trivializes the importance of community...It places diversity as an end in itself," he says. "At the same time I can't complain about it, because I love where I live. I have to say that I'm glad that there's randomization."

And soon Harvard undergrads will know nothing else.

Harvard life is different than it was four years ago, and it's not just final clubs that have closed their doors.

Scoops and Beans, a below-street-level ice cream parlor, was a stop on many seniors' Freshman Week jaunts.

"I thought their mocha explosion was the greatest thing," says Nikhil Chandra '99-'00.

It's been replaced by Toscanini's, and soon, Finagle a Bagel.

And, believe it or not, until last year upperclass students had to journey all the way back to the Houses for a free lunch. Now Quadlings and Yardlings alike can grab a bagged lunch from Fly-By in Loker Commons.

But the very skeleton of Harvard has changed. Now men and women truly share the College.

Some students question, though, whether Radcliffe's dissolution means that undergraduate women have lost an advocate, and a friend.

Maura M. Pelham '00 remembers when Radcliffe was still an integral part of the university.

"I think it's unfortunate that the sense of tradition of having a Radcliffe degree on your diploma is lost," she says. "I think it's sad that there's that loss of tradition of female solidarity."

And the person that some say was undergraduates' most important advocate, former Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, has stepped down from his prominent post.

It was not uncommon in past years to see Epps walking through the Yard or lunching with Loker.

"In conversation with him he was very warm and approachable," says Eric R. Rosenbaum '01.

First-years should know that even though seniors have done their best to make Harvard a better place, there's a lot that they didn't have time to change.

--Kelly M. Yamanouchi contributed to the reporting of this article.