Neighborly Activities

Tucked away beneath the President's House at 17 Quincy St. is the office of a curious and little-known University organization. The Harvard Neighbors, a group comprised mostly of faculty members' wives, have banded together for nearly a century to perform a colorful range of community services, from offering classes to helping resolve faculty-family problems.

The Neighbors, now about 450 in number, are successors to the defunct College Teas Association, which was founded in 1894 and held regular, formal gatherings in the President's House for Harvard's elite faculty spouses. The wife of the President traditionally presided over the affairs.

When Derek C. Bok became president in 1971, his wife Sissela worked some changes on the Teas Association. A scholar and author in the field of ethics, who currently teaches Moral Reasoning 24, "Moral Choice and Personal Responsibility." Bok found herself too busy to do the hostess's duties her predecessors had. So in 1972, a committee under her direction formed the College Teas Association and Harvard Neighbors to replace the old program.

Over the past decade, with a slight alteration in nomenclature, the new organization has evolved into the current Harvard Neighbors. The group has also gained strength by retaining a permanent administrator--Jane M. Williams '51. In addition, the Neighbors also have a board of directors whose ranks include Judy Fox, wife of Dean of the College John B. Fox Jr. '59; Nitza Rosovsky, wife of Dean of the Faculty Henry Rosovsky; and Roberta Wilson, whose husband is James Q. Wilson, Shattuck Professor of Government.

Sissela Bok has not entirely foresworn the group's age-old practices "The Boks still attend all the parties," Williams says. "The white gloves are gone, but she still greets people."

Autumn is the most active season for the Neighbors, as new faculty members and their families are invited to join the organization. The group welcomes the new arrivals and tries to make them feel at ease in the different residential neighborhoods around Harvard by sending members out to get acquainted with the newcomers.

Anyone affiliated with the Harvard administration, faculty, and other personnel is eligible to join the Neighbors for an $8 membership fee. Most of the group's members are women.

Membership, says Williams, hit a low about five years ago because women felt uncomfortable about not seeming independent, given the current force of the women's movement. "Now it is much more relaxed and comfortable," the administrator says.

Williams, who helps with the official Harvard greeting to new faculty, says that despite the fact that Harvard faculty members come from many nations, the people who have the hardest time adjusting to Cambridge are the ones that come from other parts of the United States.

"They are shocked by the inflation and lack of housing. Cambridge is not a backfence community," Williams observes. "Even though Harvard is usually a terrific opportunity for their men, it can be a pretty lonely place," she says of the new faculty wives, adding that they are "very grateful to find others in the same situation through the Neighbors."

But Williams has also had to deal with the problems that arise when a family comes to Cambridge from abroad. "The wife of a Japanese professor in Chemistry once came to me after they had been here eight weeks, and told me very ashamedly that her husband had not been paid," she recalls. "When her husband found out that she had asked for help, he was angry." But the tale has a happy ending--"It turned out to be just a computer error."

Each fall, the Neighbors decide the year's slate of special courses for its members, ranging from Austrian banking to French conversation.

One course that is especially popular is called "Focus on the Family" and is a discussion for new mothers that meets once a month in Memorial Church. Other topics of interest include pottery, quilting and bridge.

Members have branched out to their own groups as well in subjects such as egg painting and book discussion. Shelley Sage, who recently came to Harvard from New Zealand with her husband, a Medical School instructor in anesthesia, says this group and the Neighbors helped her find friends and adjust to this country.

"We always talk about our problems, and even though no one comes up with any solutions, I enjoy it," Sage says.

Retired female faculty members also enjoy the group's activities. Peg Ball, who spent 25 years as a Medical School research associate, says that the "Continental Cooking" course she leads allows her to meet a lively group of women from all over the University.

"It's a little like chemistry," Ball remarks. "First we have a lecture-demonstration. Then we all sit around and eat."

In short, says Williams, "No organization can solve all the problems of the people who come to it. But we are very positive."