Crimson Key Tours Give the Straight Story

To the editors:

I am writing in response to “Moving Beyond ‘The Three Lies’” by Luke Smith (Editor’s Notebook, Oct. 23) to clarify the Crimson Key Society’s function and operations with respect to its tours of the Harvard campus. Prospective students do not receive, as Smith charges, a “thoroughly useless Harvard history lesson.” They enjoy a comprehensive and candid discussion of academic, residential, extracurricular and social life at the College. The sprinkling of historical anecdotes serves to enrich and enliven an essentially informational tour. Crimson Key guides do not carry a script, but we do cover all of the topics Smith claims were missing from his first tour. We talk about “academic advising,” “support networks” and what the “meals are like at Annenberg.” We also talk about proctor groups, house life, campus safety and extracurricular opportunities. We even mention that exams are after break and the possibility of being Quadded.

It is precisely the “realities of Harvard life,” to use Smith’s phrase, that we describe on our tours. While tour guides are encouraged to share personal stories, however, they are discouraged from editorializing about College policies. Perhaps to the writer’s surprise, some students enjoy Core classes, have positive experiences with TFs and appreciate the school’s decision not to keep libraries open round the clock. Regardless, it is not a tour guide’s role to offer opinions on policies about which there are a diversity of views. We welcome the “puzzled applicant’s most profound questions” and we answer them honestly. Do we portray Harvard in a positive light? Yes. Are we disingenuous or bent on sugarcoating our responses? No.

Smith closes his piece with what he must regard as a novel suggestion: “Why not have two tours—one to wow the weekend tourists, and another to give applicants meaningful information about the school?” Well, in fact, we do. The tour run through the Information Office, which is perhaps the one Smith attended, is for tourists, concentrating on Harvard’s history and it buildings. The Admissions Office tour, for prospective students and their families, focuses on “contemporary campus and academic life,” the nitty-gritty that Smith claims we neglect.

The Crimson Key Society is grateful to receive feedback from students, as we encourage dialogue about how better to relate the undergraduate experience to potential schoolmates. A poorly researched and misinformed piece like Smith’s contributes nothing to this discussion.

Jonathan C. Gruber ’02

Oct. 24, 2001

The writer is the president of the Crimson Key Society.