Website Aims To Aid Weekend Party Seekers

Three self-described “party masterminds” have declared war on the age-old Harvard tradition of weekend nights spent aimlessly roaming the streets.

Darren S. Morris ’05, Zachary A. Corker ’04 and Paul H. Hersh ’04—all organizers of last year’s notorious Mather Lather party—started HarvardParties.com this summer in an effort to kick Harvard’s social scene into gear.

“We’re trying to alleviate the problem of people wandering around on Saturday night looking for a party,” Morris said.

The purpose of the site is to serve as a centralized bulletin board for campus revelers. It features a calendar of upcoming events, a step-by-step guide for students looking to throw a large party and a gallery of semi-scandalous photos from recent festivities.

There are plans to sell those photos for $2 a piece.

The site’s creators say they were initially inspired by last May’s foam-soaked Mather Lather, which was shut down after only two hours because of the crowds that swarmed into the Mather House dining hall.

“1,300 students showed up for that,” said Corker. “If a quarter of the student population is showing up for one event, then there’s not enough going on.”

The idea for the site remained unrealized until the trio heard about an entrepreneurial contest sponsored by Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) called “Expansion.”

“We wanted to start an initiative to convince more undergraduates to start agencies,” Director of HSA’s Center for Enterprise Alliah D. Agostini ’04 said of the contest.

The business plan submitted by Morris, Corker and Hersh caught the eye of the contest organizers, who gave the green light to provide the entrepreneurs with start-up funds.

Both groups declined to state exactly how much money HSA gave to HarvardParties.com, but according to Morris the amount was “sizeable.”

The entrepreneurs used those funds in July to hire Bill J. Cocks ’06, a webmaster and computer science concentrator, and by Sept. 6 the site was up and running. It officially launched on Monday.

Cocks said he uses the site to plan his own weekends and has already benefited from the insider party knowledge it offers.

“I’m the first one to know, so that’s an added bonus,” he said.

So far, those connected with the site say the response has been unanimously positive.

“We’re pretty confident that it’ll get off to a decent start and become a Harvard institution,” said Agostini.

Though news of the service has just spread by word of mouth so far, the entrepreneurs say they have plans for a promotional campaign including e-mails to House lists and HarvardParties.com t-shirts and bottle-openers.

As of last night, HarvardParties.com had six events posted on its roster, including the Carribean Club’s “More Fiyah” party and the Seneca’s “Fall Ball.”

The guide for potential party throwers is meticulously arranged, a fact the creators credit to their experience with the Mather Lather.

“That showed us how confusing it could be for people throwing large parties,” Morris said. “We’re really just trying to help the social scene out.”

Despite the early stage of their venture, the creators are confident their site will be getting hits for the foreseeable future.

“As long as Harvard students want to party, we’ll be around,” said Corker.

—Staff writer Nathaniel A. Smith can be reached at nsmith@fas.harvard.edu.