Athletes Destroy Eliot House Igloo

The Eliot igloo is no more, and now residents are up in arms over its destruction.

The dome, constructed by about 20 Eliot residents over 10 hours, came under siege early Sunday by members of Harvard’s men’s hockey team, angering several residents.

E-mails sent over the House open list in the aftermath included tirades against athletes, replete with obscenities and stereotypes, and half-joking plans for vengeance against the team for destroying what became known as “Eliot’s igloo.”

“Apparently someone called [the Harvard police], and [the attackers] ran like the little pussies they are,” House resident Robert L. Kulwin ’08 wrote. “Too bad that while [their] 1200 [SAT score] was good enough to get them in here it [isn’t] good enough to get them a job after they leave.”

The incident led the hockey team’s co-captain to send an apology over the House’s e-mail list.

“It is embarrassing and disappointing to hear of these actions and I apologize on behalf of the team for the lapse in judgment of those involved,” David M. MacDonald ’08 wrote. “We will do our best to take care of the situation within the team and although this e-mail does not rebuild the igloo, I hope it convinces you not to blanket our entire team with the blame.”

The igloo could fit about eight people and became a source of pride for the House in its short lifetime.

The incident was reminiscent of the destruction of a nine-foot snow penis constructed by the crew team in Tercentenary Theatre in 2003. The phallus came tumbling down amid controversy about its construction.

On Saturday, some of the students who built the igloo watched the demise from their room.

The group noticed about eight individuals tearing down the entire structure, ignoring people who were walking by and asking them to stop.

Alejandra Duarte ’10 said she yelled at the igloo’s assailants to stop but to no avail.

“We were kind of upset about it because we’d seen the people working on it all day that day, and there were a bunch of people from Eliot helping out and it looked like it was really hard,” Duarte said. “It became Eliot’s igloo, so it was sad in that way, too.”

The attackers responded to Duarte by saying that the igloo was “just a pile of snow,” she said.

The Harvard University Police Department was called to the scene when a resident first noticed the attack. According to the police log, officers spoke to the group and left after making sure all was in order.

In addition to the public apology from MacDonald, one of the students involved in the incident also returned to apologize in person to the students who made the igloo.

—Staff writer Victoria B. Kabak can be reached at vkabak@fas.harvard.edu.