Mather To Resurrect House Newspaper

Harvard’s bastion of sex bloggers, date auctions, tryst-ready singles, and suds-laden revelry will soon be easier to keep tabs on thanks to a recent decision by the Mather House Committee (HoCo) to resurrect a slightly more dated—and less salacious—institution: the house newspaper.

Dubbed "The Concrete Abstract," the forthcoming newspaper draws its name and motivation from a similar project that Matherites engineered in the 1970s and early 1980s, according to Nikhil G. Mathews ’08, the recently elected Mather House historian who has been spearheading the current effort.

“This is something that no other house has,” said Mathews, who is a Crimson editorial editor. “We really feel that Mather HoCo has been one of the most outrageous and off-the-wall HoCos, and this newspaper is going to be just another thing that sets it apart.”

The newspaper, which is to be circulated on a bi-weekly basis beginning in early April, will include a regular historical column by Mathews—who promises an examination of the history of the notorious Mather Lather dance—as well as a social calendar, features on student art, and possibly some jokes from Jeremy A. Cypen ’09, whose is known throughout the House for his habit of e-mailing a joke of the day to the Mather Open e-mail list.

“We are looking to cobble together a pretty complete picture of Mather House, from art to IMS to dining hall food,” said Mathews. “Everything in there is going to be Mather.”

Somewhat less certain was whether everything Mather was going to be in the paper. Asked whether noted sex blogger and Matherite Lena Chen ’09, who is also a Crimson magazine editor, would be writing for the publication, Mathews said that he had not spoken to her about doing so.

“I’m sure she could make some fun contributions,” he added.

As far as the possibility of administrative contributions were concerned, Sandra Naddaff ’75, the Mather House co-master of 14 years, said in an e-mailed statement that she had been informed of the newspaper project, but—having had no journalism experience—might not be the best person for the task.

She noted that her husband, Co-Master Leigh Hafrey ’75, would make a better contributer, given his previous standing as an editor at the New York Times Book Review.

According to Mather HoCo Co-chair Nitesh Banta ’08, the focus of the new publication is not necessarily meant to be as sober as that of other newspapers.

“I think part of the charm is that it’s not as serious a commitment,” he said. “It’s really for a group of people that you consider to be your friends and your housemates.”

Mathews, recalling recent Mather Open debates on topics ranging from freshman T-shirts to the Iraq war, said he hoped the paper could be used as a venue for people to vent their combative energy.

Mathews was unsure whether other houses would be able to follow in Mather’s footsteps.

“I highly doubt that in other houses there is going to be the enthusiasm to copy what Mather does,” he said, “but we welcome them to try.”

—Staff writer Christian B. Flow can be reached at cflow@fas.harvard.edu.