450 Matriculate at Harvard State Univ.

The first class at “Harvard State University” went off smoothly Monday night—except there were no professors, lectures or notebooks.

Instead, about 450 undergraduates boozed and swayed to R. Kelly’s “Ignition” and Christina Aguilera’s “Drrty.”

The party—promoted for two weeks with e-mails, hundreds of posters across campus and a even a gorilla in a “Harvard State University” (HSU) t-shirt—provided a campus-wide Veteran’s Day weekend social venue and also sparked a minor debate about elitism at Harvard.

At the party, the body heat from hundreds of people grinding on—and off—the dance floor was combined with intermittent use of a fog machine, turning the frigid fall air outside into a humid summer night on the second floor of Europa.

Numerous disco balls and colored lights shining across the dance floor added even more to the clubby atmosphere—a stark change from routine dorm room parties.

The gorilla, in the person of Naupaka B. Zimmerman ’05, also made an appearance at the party itself, to much acclaim.

“Definitely the hottest dancer there was a big gorilla,” Ryan D. Hughes ’06 said. “Everybody’s sweating in their t-shirts and he’s out there in this heavy costume, just for the love of it.”

“I thought it was ecstatic,” Elijah M. Hutchinson ’06 said of HSU, adding that he was also pleased with the choice of music blared through speakers throughout the club.

“I thought it was very eclectic so I was happy,” he said.

But Lyndsay M. Murray ’04 said that the music “got a little subpar” towards the end of the party.

Murray also said that social dynamics at HSU encouraged more mixing between classes than usually occurs at Harvard.

“Lots of senior guys [with] freshman girls,” Murray said.

Off the dance floor, according to bouncer Tony John, the party was uneventful.

“A couple of drunk kids, just walked them out, made sure they got in a cab,” John said. “Harvard parties are always good. Well-behaved people.”

The security, publicity and other logistics of HSU were organized by Zachary A. Corker ’04, Paul H. Hersh ’04 and Darren S. Morris ’05, who also launched the website HarvardParties.com this year and used the site to promote their party.

Morris said that the party will ultimately be financed only by ticket sales, at $10 or $15 apiece.

“We’ll break even, I hope,” Morris said.

Though they initially hoped for at least 700 people to show up (Europa’s capacity is 757, according to Morris) they were still proud of the turnout.

“I think especially for a Monday night, a club downtown, 450 is really good,” Hersh said.

But he said that the trio has no plans to organize another party in the near future.

“This is way too much work for three people,” Hersh said. “I haven’t done any [school] work in like three weeks.”

Despite the positive reception it ultimately received, HSU was not pulled off without controversy.

Following the announcement on Lowell House’s open e-mail list, a number of Lowell residents objected to the perceived elitism in the party’s name and promotion.

The e-mail promotion asked, “Ever wanted to party like they do at that state school you could have coasted through?”

“If a friend at a state school would see that, they would understandably be upset,” David W. Escott ’05 said. “I think it’s just a matter of being sensitive.”

But Greg R. Atwan ’05 disagreed.

“As far as I could tell, the Harvard State party seemed conceived only as a very good party,” he said.