College's Smallest, Leverett Offers Cohesive Units, Laissez-Faire, 'Spirit'

Everything Claverly was, Leverett was first, but is no longer. From the worst it rose to "everybody's second choice House" and "the House nobody wants to enter, but which nobody wants to leave." And its desirability is still going upwards.

The reason for this is spirit and laissez-faire. Nobody pushes, but there is strong cohesion and things are accomplished. There is no rah-rah dinner-table cheering, but Leverett's football team won the inter-House title, nevertheless.

There are organizations such as the Leverett People's Republic, which has for years been trying to recapture Gore Hall from Winthrop.

The Mill Street AA (Leverett Branch) irregularly challenges field hockey teams from women's colleges, and the Leverett Civic Improvement Society performs many necessary odd jobs. Its major achievement was to locate the center of the universe outside McKinlock Hall's main gate.

Lack of a tower has occasioned many attempts at construction of one by applied science majors in the House. The traditional Bunny of mysterious origin appears at important events (i.e. Leverett football games and dances).

Opening Dance Held

The Hutch has been the first House to hold a dance each year, opening with a Bunny hop after the first football game and continuing with many afternoon and evening affairs. Leverett is the only House which maintains direct contact with its brother College at Yale. Throughout the year at the end of every season it has play-offs with Timothy Dwight in as many sports as possible.

On the more serious side, Leverett has its library, music room, records, and listening room. The Forum Committee and the House newspaper, the Leverett Laurels, sporadically blurt out into the open. Original House-written revues have become traditional for Leverett's Christmas-time productions.

More conductive to spirit, Leverett was the first to sponsor concentration dinners in the various fields, as well as sophomore and junior-senior banquets.

For the more leisurely minded of the four Houses on the river, Leverett is closest to Lamont. Its dining halls are honored for staying open later than University regulations require. The Hutch's squash courts are neither few nor in the basement--there are six, on a level with and connected to Mather Hall. Finally, the House has its own tennis court, also adjacent to Mather. Dates may use them on weekends.

But with all this spirit and opportunity to get together, the Bunnies remain a diverse group. Athletes, scholars, and premeds are all Leverett inhabitants. The Hutch is supposed to house a high enough percentage of club members to rival, if not overwhelm, Eliot. At the same time it allegedly contains the highest ratio of scholarship students.

No one is forced to mingle, even with the tutors. Leverett is the smallest House, but it has the largest dining room. This room is typical of the House as a whole. With its small tables it allows a resident to go off by himself or with a small group and know no one else will be forced to eat with him.

But at the same time Leverett is famous for its small, four-man tables surrounded by six or seven men. Students are constantly pulling over chairs, or moving tables together. But this student fraternity does not extend to any of the resident faculty except the affable House-master, Leigh Hoadley. He is the only non-student who goes out of his way to talk to some of the House members, invading their tables in the dining hall.

There is no "organized goodfellowship" at Leverett. One entry beer party a year, a House blast, and a closed dance is the only attempt to fit into that category. The Bunnies are inclined to stick together in tight groups for their socializing.

Present size of House: 332

Vacancies for Freshmen: 119

Types of rooms available: 3 singles, 18 doubles, 13 triples, 6 quads, 1 quint, 1 six-man.

Price Range of available rooms (per man per term): singles, $115-240; doubles, $130-240; triples, $150-205; quads, $115-195; 1 quint, $170; 1 six-man, $160.