Approve New Party Hours

On Oct 10, Harvard’s House Masters finally agreed to allow parties in House dining halls—where no alcohol is served—to last until 2 a.m. The agreement came after a successful campaign by members of the Undergraduate Council to extend party hours in hopes of giving students greater options in Harvard’s often lackluster social life, and was hailed as a significant step forward.

Unfortunately, the enthusiasm for later parties was quickly dampened when council members and organizers of this past weekend’s Adams House Masquerade learned that a special permit from the Cambridge Licensing Commission would be needed for parties to last later than 1 a.m. According to the Commission, applying for such a permit requires a special hearing—a process that could take several weeks to complete—and the misunderstanding prevented the organizers from obtaining a permit in time. It is somewhat heartening that Winthrop’s “Chastity” was able to sidestep the Commission’s bureaucracy because the event is not officially ticketed—House residents receive free tickets after paying House dues.

Nevertheless, we urge the Commission to review its policies and provide for the quick approval of extended hours. There is no need for several weeks of review for each request, especially in the case of House parties such as Leverett’s “’80s Dance” and “Pfoho54” that are held on weekend nights, and House committees should not have to spend time finding ways to evade the Commision’s overzealous scrutiny.

What’s more, parties with extended hours are required by the Masters to be dry events and to take place in House public spaces rather than private rooms. Despite the Commission’s sensitivity to noise (as shown by its recent decision regarding the closing time of Tommy’s House of Pizza), House parties are already highly regulated, and residential areas are well shielded from any noise they produce.

We hope that the Commission will recognize the nature of House parties and cooperate with the College’s new policy. The Commission should be reasonable and allow for a streamlined approval process for House parties in order to remove unnecessary barriers and prevent future misunderstandings regarding the hours of planned, responsible social events. Without this compromise, the council’s progress in extending party hours will have little effect on the improvement of students’ social lives.