Quincy

Quincy was the first House to consciously break with the tradition of elegant Harvardiana. One need not apologize for Quincy's modernity: it was all part of the plan. Built in 1959, Quincy extended and adapted the Georgian-modeled House system to the needs and demands of Har- vard's increasingly national character.

Quincy adopted institutionally what the new student body had represented implicitly for years since World War II. This House would no longer be a semi-elite haven for the college stag. Quincy was the first House to incorporate woman tutors, and the first to encourage married tutors to raise their families within the House. (You may have been wondering about the tri-cycle in our courtyard.)

Quincy's first members were personally selected by the Master from applicants desiring to leave their more traditional houses. They represented, through scholarships, campus offices and activities, a most vigorous kind of individual. For them, Quincy obviously fulfilled its purpose; because it was new, Quincy provided an escape from the gracious gentility imposed on them by the older Houses. It provided a place for the experimental, adventurous type who wished to be free of conformity to a given style.

A large number of the students--no means all--became political activists; these were the days of TOCSIN, and smoke-filled hallways. Quincy's image was one of house affiliated student protest and high ranking politicoes.

Since that time--when Quincy's identity was tangible and apparent--Quincy's apologists have interpreted subsequent years as a quest for a new House image, and a search for the dominant theme running through the House's activities. The apologists have forgotten Quincy's original intention. Quincy was not designed for those who wanted the pomp of the old Harvard, or for those who wanted to have a particularly elite life-style imposed on them. Instead, Quincy was designed for the vigorous student who sought to achieve his own goals without any restrictions upon his chosen patterns of living. Quincy has an elusive identity because it refuses to impose one.

Some groups have come to dominate Quincy's formal House structure. Critics of the House have contended that the present ruling minority--those represented on the House Committees--consists of collegiate types who have attempted to make the House a huge Beta Theta Pi. During the football season Quincy has staged pre-game picnics that would do any Big Ten school proud, and through cold lonely winters, has turned in one Mixer success after another.

But other activities, built upon more personal relationalships, have spontaneously emerged and coexisted along with the more formal activities of the House. With little fanfare, one group of Quincy men has organized the Swarthmore Swap, a kind of person-to-person one week student exchange program.

A few energetic juniors have adopted the defunct Quincy newspaper, changed its name and format, and put out a number of issues with a regularity unusual for House periodicals. Other activists have founded the Quincy Drama Society, and have published the Quincy Drama Review. The Essay Society meets without ostentation on alternate Sundays to discuss a topical paper submitted by a member.

For the man who needs the House spirit-push to find his friends and define his interests, Quincy may be disappointing.

That is just the point about Quincy. It forces a style on no one. But for energetic types who want freedom to create their own reals of activity, Quincy can be receptive