On Lottery Eve, Rituals Reign

A flaming pink and green shoebox plummeted from the Weeks Footbridge into a dark Charles River, flipping over and sinking. “Mather, it is,” reverberated across the river bank from the middle of the bridge.

The blocking group from Canaday lamented its fate as it watched its housing prospects sink along with its makeshift boat. These six females, like many other first-years last night, were participating in a pre-housing ritual in hopes of skewing the Freshman Lottery, which assigns upperclass housing to first-years, in their favor.

“Everyone jokes about the fact that they have microphones everywhere and if you say that you want to be there they’ll put you in that House,” Sarah C. Duncan ’07, from the Canaday blocking group, said.

Over the past several weeks, many of the first-years have banded together to form blocking groups of up to eight people. And early this morning, first-years found out in which House they would spend the next three years of their College lives.

Former Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 randomized housing in 1995. And with the exception of students with disabilities and rare interventions from the Freshman Dean’s Office, the College maintains the housing process is entirely random.

But last night, despite assurances from administrators about randomization, first-years were still hoping to influence their housing assignments as a mix of blocking groups not only launched shoebox boats, but also built gingerbread houses, downed shots in House courtyards and bonded with each other.

CANADAY C-AENEID

Duncan and her five blockmates were accompanied to the Charles by the Canaday C prefects, Jordan D. Scopa ’04 and Kanoe M. Lum ’05. Scopa dubbed the shoebox boat launch “Canaday C-Aeneid”—and like Aeneas these first-years were in search of a favorable new home last night.

After dropping their boat, the group—which also includes Stefanie L. Botelho ’07, Julia M. Chandler ’07, Gayatri S. Datar ’07, Maura A. Graul ’07 and Kathleen E. Walro ’07—retreated back to the Yard to snack on “ice cream, candy, nachos, junk and fattening food” and watch episodes of “Sex and the City” and “Friends.”

Like all first-years, the six females officially entered the lottery last week, signing up on the Undergraduate Housing Office’s website.

But the process of blocking wasn’t easy for them as original groupings disintegrated and new ones formed to take their place. Duncan said she was forced to find new blockmates after her first blocking group fell apart, leaving just her and one other friend.

“After that we were looking for other people and we linked up with a friend, who had another friend who we didn’t know. One of the three of us had another friend who joined the group,” said Duncan, explaining how she ended up blocking with two first-years she didn’t know.

“All in all it could be a bad process, but now I love my blocking group,” Duncan said.

At the top of their housing wishlist last night was Adams House, although the others rejected this choice because of its decentralized layout. But they all feared being Quaded.

“I know I don’t want to be in the Quad,” said Botelho. “I’m not organized enough to use the shuttle.”

A FATE WORSE THAN THE QUAD?

Unlike most blocking groups who engaged in rituals by the River, the four residents of Stoughton North celebrated by playing a round of dorm golf—a tradition they started at the beginning of the year. The four first-years played this game by starting on the top floor of the dorm and working their way down until landing a golf ball into a hole set up in a first-floor bedroom.

Earlier this month, the four males expected to be playing this round with four other blockmates.

“Going into the day of blocking, we thought we would have eight, but now we have four,” said Charlton T. Volpe ’07.

Volpe is the lone Californian among his three blockmates who all hail from the East Coast: Matthew R. Conroy ’07, Matthew R. Lynch ’07 and George T. O’Brien ’07.

Among the blockmates, there was a consensus that being placed in Dunster House was worse than being Quaded.

“Dunster will burn down to the ground before we get into it,” said Lynch. “It’s far and it sucks,” concurs Conroy.

Each, however, had his own favorite House. Volpe said he likes Quincy because it brings back fond memories of his first amorous encounter with his girlfriend and it “has nice rooms.”

Conroy looked to the Quad and said his dream House is Pforzheimer because he wants 24-hour access to its “Simpsons” arcade game.

In explaining his housing choices, Lynch said his grandmother worked in Eliot and Winthrop Houses and he also favored their architecture.

TOAST OF THE HOUSES

In Thayer, another blocking group contemplated its housing fates. Daniel A. Koh ’07 said that his blocking group had been thinking about the process all year, although it didn’t finalize its decision until a month before the deadline.

“When you’re in a dorm like Thayer, eight is a small number—you can never have all the people you want in the blocking group,” Koh said.

In an effort to increase the diversity of the Houses, Lewis reduced blocking groups from 16 to eight in spring 2000.

Koh’s eight-member blocking group also consists of John F. Voith ’07, Clinton M. Siegfried ’07, Jason M. Degnan-Rojeski ’07, David A. Sanford ’07, Andrew B. Casey ’07, Robert M. Yribarren ’07 and Erich V. Scheller ’07.

The eight, who affectionately refer to themselves as “46” in reference to their official blocking group number, decided to celebrate today’s housing assignments by visiting each House at 11 p.m. In the courtyards of the Houses they wanted to live in, some members of “46” downed shots of Malibu and Jamaican Rum in hopes that their toasts would bring good luck.

Like the blocking group of Stoughton North, the eight haven’t agreed upon which House is their first choice.

“We’re going to all the Houses because the group has mixed opinions and whoever wants the House can perform a ritual,” Voith said.

At least one person drank in each of the River Houses—the most popular of which were Quincy, Adams, Winthrop, Eliot and Kirkland.

A HOUSE DIVIDED

Another blocking group participated in a similar circuit of toasts, but only stopped at the River Houses.

Last September, Ashley M. Nathanson ’07 said she met Jessica R. Rosenfeld ’07 and Kathryn C. Gluckman ’07 at the Politics Day sponsored by the Institute of Politics.

“The three of us girls are strong Democrats,” said Nathanson, a member of the Harvard College Democrats along with Rosenfeld.

The three blocked with Nicholas A. Molina ’07, who remains divided from his three female blockmates on partisan lines.

“Nick holds strong with his libertarian views, but we love him anyway,” said Rosenfeld.

Just after 9 p.m. yesterday, the group converged on Lowell House to start their “River Run” in an attempt to attain their version of the Holy Grail: Kirkland House.

Standing in the Lowell courtyard, Gluckman suggested that they tap their water bottles four times, before exclaiming, “To the River!”

After their first cheer, the group was off to Leverett House. As they ventured from Leverett House to Dunster and then Dunster to Mather, they screamed “Captain Planet” chants—”Earth, wind, fire, heart.” From Mather House, the foursome traveled to Quincy, Winthrop and then Eliot. Along the way Gluckman told her roommates of her prophetic dreams about Pforzheimer, or Pfoho, the night before.

“I’m so cursed. I am going to get Pfoho,” she said.

Arriving at Kirkland, the group doubled its chants, first drinking to the River and then to Kirkland itself.

Their final destination of Adams House brought the burning of their manifesto. Inscribed with each of the members’ names and their top four housing choices, the manifesto symbolized the end of their ritualistic journey.

“It smells like S’mores,” said Nathanson.

HOUSE ACTIVITY

While first-years engaged in pre-housing rituals last night, the House Committees (HoCo) also prepared for today’s assignments.

Yesterday, the Eliot HoCo put up posters around the Yard saying, “Who’s the Boss?” And during dinner, they unfurled a huge banner with the same message in Annenberg, the first-year dining hall.

Members of Eliot said yesterday that they planned to follow up these mysterious posters with shirts that responded to the question by stating “Tony [...] Danza.”

“You could say that ‘Who’s the Boss?’ because Eliot’s best, but it’s really just something random to get freshmen excited,” said Eliot House resident and Undergraduate Council Vice President Michael R. Blickstead ’05, who unwrapped the banner in Annenberg last night.

Today after the first-years receive their housing assignments, students from all the Houses, including for the first time Adams House, will convene at Annenberg to welcome them into upperclass housing.

“I’m easy to please. I’m going to be happy no matter what,” said Botelho at the end of the night.

—Bari M. Schwartz contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Elena P. Sorokin contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Joshua P. Rogers can be reached at jprogers@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Adam P. Schneider can be reached at aschneid@fas.harvard.edu.