The Life of the Party

The Student Assembly lurched and skidded through its second full year of existence, with Harvard's first student government in the last ten years sacrificing politics for parties.

Sandwiched in between a couple of major surveys of student opinion--later lost in the shuffle--the assembly proclaimed itself the Cruise Director of the S.S. Harvard and steamed off to socialize the College.

Its efforts proved less than successful. In October, the assembly planned to rent a train for Harvard students to ride and drink their way down to The Game in New Haven. It hadn't happened since 1975, but assembly organizers, armed with a poll showing that 1000 students would sign up, predicted a minimum turnout of 800.

Fortunately, the assembly did not forward a down payment to Amtrak for the $13,500 train, and when only 70 students lined up to ride the railroad, spokesmen quietly backed out of the project.

Crowds, or the lack thereof, seemed a serious problem for the assembly; in May, its plans for the first annual Spring Weekend, complete with concert, picnics and softball games, staggered to minimal success.

Supported by about 20 local stores, the assembly put up the front money to have the Pousette-Dart Band and Livingston Taylor play in the new Bright Hockey Center. With only a week to go before the concert, however, the assembly had but 400 people of the 1500 necessary to break even on Spring Weekend Saturday.

Enterprising assembly salesmen looked elsewhere to ferret out an audience and the show went on, but it was not exactly the gala the polls had predicted.

Maybe next year....