Class of 2000 Bequeaths 34 New Student Groups to Harvard

If The Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard seems any heavier than it did four years ago, it could be because the section on student groups keeps getting longer and longer.

New student groups are spawned at Harvard nearly as often as tourists rub John Harvard's lucky toe. In 1996-1997, when most current seniors arrived on campus, there were 186 student groups officially recognized by the College. Now, there are over 300.

The Class of 2000 has been instrumental in the creation of these groups. Because of the efforts of dozens of seniors, students can now review bestselling books, teach Web page design in inner-city Boston and learn Israeli dancing in Harvard-affiliated organizations.

"The range is diverse, from juggling and croquet to international development to political awareness, religious observance, performing arts and publications," writes Susan T. Cooke, coordinator of student activities, in an e-mail message. "[There is] a true slice of thriving, diverse activity at the College."

In total, members of the graduating class have founded or co-founded 34 new student groups over their Harvard careers, according to Cooke.

Few founders say leaving a permanent mark on the student group landscape was foremost in their minds when they started out. But now that they are graduating, they are becoming more aware of the impact their groups have had, and more interested in seeing them flourish for a long time.

And so, in the past several months they have been preparing their groups for their impending departure. Leadership has changed hands. Potential snags have been straightened.

For all of these new organizations, today's Commencement exercises will mark a new phase in their existence. While they will lose the day-to-day tiller of their founders, they will also gain new godfathers to act as devoted fundraisers and advisors.

Best Feeling in the World

Daniel A. Cousin '00, the founder the Harvard Juggling Club, remembers his group's first "juggling jam" during his first year at Harvard.

Letting everyone on his floor know that he want to form a new club, Cousin invited them to juggle with him one day outside of Lamont Library. Nobody came except his roommate, Christopher A. Amar '00.

Now, the group has an e-mail list with over 500 recipients, including many from other parts of the world, and it has expanded its focus to include juggling for community service. Juggling jams, which have been moved to the steps of Memorial Church in warm weather, are much busier too.

"I walk there Sundays and maybe I'm 10 minutes late and there are already tons of people there," Cousin says. "I come around the corner and I see all these props flying in the air. It's really the best feeling in the world."

It was only recently that Cousin stopped to congratulate himself on the likelihood that the group he has nurtured from its infancy will be around for some time. Like many other founders, he was not initially looking to leave a lasting legacy at Harvard. He just wanted to juggle.

But if founders such as Cousin were not necessarily motivated by the chance to change Harvard forever, they still were trying to impact Harvard and its surrounding community in the short term.

Jeannie V. Lang '00 says that when she decided to start a group as a junior, she was simply trying to apply what she was learning in the classroom to the real world.

"I found academic life very stultifying for me," Lang says. "I was tired of writing papers that nobody really cared about and I really wanted to do something."

During the summer after her sophomore year, Lang started an SAT tutoring program in Mount Vernon, N.Y., with the goal of reaching less affluent high school students who couldn't afford classes at the major test-prep companies. When she returned to Harvard that fall, she founded a similar program, Get Ready!, in Boston.

"Students come here feeling like they made a difference [in high school]," says Tanya L. Barnes '00, who revived the Harvard Mock Trial Team and founded the Pre-Law Society with Lauren A. Wetzler '00 and Thomas G. Saunders '00. "It becomes natural to want to have that same thing in college."

Of course, students who found their own groups sometimes contend with charges of resume padding or opportunism. Becoming a campus leader can be as easy--or as difficult--as creating a group and anointing oneself its chief.

Cooke says that before proposals are granted student group status, the College administration is usually able to weed out students who are motivated purely by self-interest.

"If there are students who are proposing an organization simply because they want to lead an organizations, then that's transparent," Cooke says.

Brian J. Rosenthal '00 says making a student group work requires a strong vision and a genuine desire to share it with others. Rosenthal is one of the founders of InterCity, a public service group which offers free Web page design classes in the Back Bay and then helps program graduates find jobs.

"While a lot of people are thinking about starting student groups and perhaps make initial steps for [self-interested] reasons, I think the people that actually step forward and grow student groups to a substantial size are motivated for the right reasons," he says.

Leaving a Legacy

In April, the Kuumba Singers, a group specializing in black gospel music, marked their 30th anniversary in a weekend of song and celebration.

At the time, Dennis W. Wiley '72, co-founder of Kuumba, spoke with pride about the group's durability.

"It was our dream that the group would survive, but [in the early 1970s] there was such subtle hostility toward acknowledging black cultural contributions to this society," he said. "We couldn't take for granted that something like this would survive at Harvard for 30 years."

Daniel M. Loss '00, who with Bom S. Kim '00 founded the Harvard Current, a newsmagazine circulated to over 100,000 college students nationwide, says the Current's long-term success is also important to him.

"Hopefully, many years down the line, we will be able to look and see that the Current is continuing to inform and interest all its readers nationwide, and that it is continuing to provide an outlet for student journalists at Harvard," Loss writes in an e-mail message.

Every year, about 10 student organizations become defunct, according to Cooke. The greatest factor in student group survival, she ways, is whether there is enough interest.

John F. Coyle '00 and Lauren A. Jobe '00, co-founders of the Harvard Book Review and also Crimson editors, were pleasantly surprised in the fall of their junior years when they realized that demand for their idea was high.

Publicizing 50 available spots for writers, they were expecting that under 100 would apply for the position. The night before applications were due, Coyle's e-mail inbox began filling up.

"Somehow, we had reached out to touch some 150 busy, bright, gifted people and brought them in to share our vision," Coyle writes in an e-mail message. "It was then that I realized the Book Review was going to work. It was then that I realized it was going to last."

But even successful organizations must take steps to ensure their durability. Most founders have already relinquished control of their groups to new leaders. The Current's last issue, for instance, was produced and distributed entirely by the magazine's new editors.

The Mock Trial Team and Pre-Law Society--a joint organization with an e-mail list of about 2,000 people--was at first controlled mostly by students in the Class of 2000. Barnes says the group worked hard to recruit younger students and now has a capable new leadership.

During their sophomore year, the group's creators also began thinking long-term about tension that might arise between the organization's two parts. The Mock Trial Team draws funding from the Pre-Law Society, and to make sure the two didn't split, a central governing board was created.

In some cases, Rosenthal thinks that smaller groups are better off uniting with other, more established organizations. For example, he says he would like to see InterCity merge with the Institute of Politics or Project HEALTH, an umbrella organization comprising various student-run initiatives to improve public health in the Boston area. The Current has also been negotiating to become part of Harvard Student Agencies.

Perhaps the most effective way graduates can help the organizations they created is by staying in touch.

The Book Review is establishing a graduate board to assist in fundraising, offer advice and help in other ways.

Loss writes that he and Kim will allow the Current its independence, but that they will "continue to provide informal advice." Cousin, who wants to form another club in medical school next year, says he is thinking of coming back to juggle.

"The graduation of a founding member," Cooke says, "can signal more often than not an increase in resources for the organization to call upon."

One graduating senior on the Mock Trial Team recently donated $200 to both parts of the organization, according to James M. Hunter '01, director of the Pre-Law Society and also a Crimson editor.

Hunter writes in an e-mail message that he doesn't expect too many more donations in the near future, but that having graduates helps.

"The most tangible benefit may just be increased credibility," he says. "Having an alumni presence may make the organization seem more seasoned and serious."

A Strain on Resources?

Cooke says she thinks most of the organizations founded by this year's seniors will last a long time. The next question that arises is this. Is that a good thing?

The multiplication of organizations has created a severe strain on space and funding and has ratcheted up the competition for members. The lasting groups founded by the Class of 2000 will also create some lasting problems.

Still, Noah Z. Seton '00, former president of the Undergraduate Council, argues that the overall impact of so many groups is good for the campus.

"I see only positives to the number of groups," he writes in an e-mail message. "I know that there is some concern, among students and in the administration, that there are too many groups, but I think that they add to the diversity of opportunities on campus and can only be regarded as a positive development."