'Vikings' Invade Leverett With Noise, Shouts and Clubs

The green hordes from Hanover may rampage through the streets of Cambridge this weekend, but Harvard's own aspiring Attilas, not to be outdone, descended en masse into the Leverett House dining hall last night.

Calling themselves "Vikings," about 30 students marched into the dining hall to eat without utensils or glasses and shout chants, the less offensive of which included, "Mashed Potatoes," "Take No Prisoners," and "More Meat."

Kip Smith '77 founded the Vikings last year and the group met on three occasions, Paul Karch '78, in whose room the Vikings rallied, said yesterday. Karch said that being a Viking is "an expression of the Neanderthal in all of us."

Anthony Rothschild '79 preserved the continuity of Viking tradition, baptizing each participant with a half-gallon vodka bottle saved from last year's dinner, Rothschild said yesterday.

While most Vikings wielded clubs and beer bottles, a few of the more aesthetically inclined led songs with accordion, violins and horn music.

William Lewis '79, a second-year Viking, said yesterday's banquet "corresponds with traditional harvest festivals in which Norwegian people would build up spirit to maintain themselves throughout long and cold winters."

He added that real Vikings can be compared with Harvard students facing hourlies and a snowy winter.

Most Leverett House residents interviewed yesterday who were eating at the time the Vikings entered the dining hall said they enjoyed the Viking entertainment.

Dislike

Several people, however, said they disliked the event. "There is no reason why we should be exposed to this," one student, sitting several tables away from the Vikings, said.

One student called them "sick" and another claimed they were "sexist people."

A spokesman for the food services in Leverett House said yesterday he did not mind the Vikings' escapades during the dinner as long as other students did not complain.