Dean Pushes for More Big Events

The man who planned the first Yardfest is now trying to create a uniform system for students to plan large events at Harvard.

Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II, who chairs a joint-subcommittee of the Committee on College Life and the Committee on House Life, visited the Undergraduate Council’s meeting last night to discuss a working draft of the subcommittee’s report on events management.

In 19 recommendations, the report addresses a variety of issues related to event planning including the number of events that can be held each night, how events are registered, and whether all future events will require tickets.

“I can’t believe how many hoops you have to jump through to have an event on this campus,” said McLoughlin, who works in the Office of Student Life and Activities. He added that the goal of the report is to reduce the bureaucracy surrounding event planning.

One of the changes is a cap of two on the number of large events—such as House parties or dances—per night, with the possibility of exceptions for weekends like pre-frosh weekend.

“I don’t think by only having two events we now have some dearth of events on campus,” McLoughlin said.

McLoughlin said over the last three semesters, there were only five weekends in which there were more than two large events, and that often the weekends before and after had no events.

In response to the concern that capping on-campus events might prompt students to decamp for less-safe environments like final clubs, McLoughlin said that he would consider increasing the cap to three per night if at least one event were restricted to Harvard students.

Another major change will require that large events be registered three weeks in advance. Currently, three to five days of notice is considered sufficient.

McLoughlin said these reform measures will help to more evenly distribute events throughout the year and prevent student groups from having to cancel at the last minute because of a lack of alcohol teams and police details available.

The report also recommends limiting large events to Harvard undergraduates and up to two guests per student and requiring all large events to be ticketed through the Harvard Box Office.

“These policies are all intended to help students,” McLoughlin said, adding that he would need two main things from students in cooperation—advance notice and awareness of capacity concerns.

Over the next month McLoughlin and the subcommittee—which has set up a blog to solicit student suggestions—will present the report to CCL, CHL, House Committees, and student group presidents.

The report will then be submitted for approval by the Dean of the College and implementation by the Office of Student Life and Activities.

—Staff writer Chelsea L. Shover can be reached at clshover@fas.harvard.edu.