2004 Harvard Grads Still Await Class DVD

Five months after graduation, last year’s senior class is still awaiting footage of their final semester.

Despite having pre-ordered and paid for their videos, graduates of the Class of 2004 have yet to receive The Senior Class DVD. The discs were slated to be mailed out in September but an update on the website, www.theseniordvd.com, states that “The Senior DVD is in its final production stages and will be delivered to you in mid- to late-November.”

“You can either rush and put together a poor quality product and distribute it on time or you take your time, put together a good quality product, and distribute it late,” said James C. Harrington ’03, one of the three producers.

Some seniors who ordered the DVD were unfazed by the delay and generally optimistic about receiving their copy. “I would’ve liked to have seen it sooner,” Aaron C.M. Barth ’04 said, “but they made a good point and I appreciate the effort to do high quality work.”

Harrington denied rumors of any conflicts, legal or otherwise, noting the cooperation with the Senior Class Committee (SCC) and the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA). “The SCC was great in helping us communicate to the class,” he said. “The HAA is very strongly behind the product and the DVD in general.”

The Senior DVD is the brainchild of Harrington, Michael D. Cornish ’03 and Luke R. Long ’03, who produced a similar video for their graduating class and decided to continue with the tradition. It was harder for them to coordinate the 2004 project, Harrington said, because the three are working in different locations. An on-campus camera crew filmed last spring, and shipped the tape to the three producers, who took turns editing.

The DVD features interviews with professors and students as well as footage from on-campus events.

As for a Class of 2005 DVD, “we’re not completely committed to doing it yet, but we do want to do it,” Harrington said. “The only issue that would keep us from doing it this year is the inability to find people that can be dedicated.”