So Debauched Right Now

Monopoly money is already protruding from sweaty crevices everywhere, and it’s only the beginning of the night at Winthrop House’s annual “Debauchery.”

By 11:30 p.m., people are already being turned away from the door, including Benjamin M. Kultgen ’08 and his friends.

“This is setting a new standard for Harvard gestapo-ism,” yells Kultgen.

Is he drunk? “No,” insists Kultgen.

“He’s only had ten shots,” adds a friend.

Others who waited to buy tickets were also disappointed. By 10 p.m., 600 tickets had been sold for the event, which had a capacity for 400, according to David S. Jewett ’08, treasurer for Winthrop House Committee (HoCo) and an organizer of the event.

Despite the 11 degree Fahrenheit weather forecast, as expected, the scantily dressed were in abundance.

“There was a girl just wearing a bra,” says Jewett calmly the next morning. Adds Michael J. Mure ’09, social chair of Winthrop HoCo, “A guy was walking around in a Speedo.”

Plus, “Some people didn’t dress for the occasion but left with a lot less than they came with,” says Catherine M. “Hoppy” Maffione ’08, co-chair of the HoCo. So it’s no wonder that, as Jewett so astutely remarked, Debauchery has a reputation as being “risqué.”

And it’s precisely this reputation that feeds into the event’s popularity. If you believe all the things you hear, Debauchery featured secret police, half-dressed people, and...broken windows?

“Last year people climbed through the windows!” One waiting student said Saturday night, “Maybe we should try that.”

However, if you, like throngs of other dismayed hopefuls, were stuck waiting outside Saturday night, don’t despair. According to Jewett, Debauchery is tamer than the rumors that surround it.

A little slander is no problem, though: says Jewett, “I like the rumors because the rumors sell tickets.”