Alumni Return to Cambridge

When more than 1000 graduates and their families visit Cambridge this week for reunions, they may enjoy some unexpected social benefits.

"They really lay it on for these," says Charles L. Burwell '39. "It's like four days in a welfare state, and a rather entertaining one at that."

From breakfast at the residential houses to an evening with the Boston Pops to the Alumni Procession at Commencement, members of the 25th, 35th and 50th reunions will encounter a packed schedule of events that could tire them out for days to come.

By this afternoon, student reunion coordinators estimate, 640 members of the class of 1964 will register at the Harvard Union, and 307 graduates from the class of 1954 will arrive at Dunster House for their registration. And 375 members of the class of 1939 are expected to check in at Winthrop House.

"It feels good to be back--it feels like home," said Pattison Esmiol '54. "We welcome the chance to see everyone again."

But some of what they see they may not recognize. While the venerable red brick of the Yard remains familiar, some say new additions to the Harvard skyline prove more puzzling.

"Mather House is an interesting one," said Burwell. "That's the most visibly incongruous site in Harvard Square."

Although the University gives alumni rooms in River houses, they may not prove as comfortable as those they remember.

"We explain that the housing is Spartan," said Tonia H. Simon '91, co-coordinator of the 50th reunion, "but sometimes they don't realize that Spartan isn't just without track lighting."

Reunions have their good sides, however. Tonight the class of '64 will enjoy a night alone with the Boston Pops. The alums will not only have Symphony Hall to themselves, but Storrow Dr. will also be closed so Harvard buses can travel in tandem to the event. And when members of the 50th reunion hear the Pops on Tuesday, some will find a familiar face in conductor Leonard Bernstein '39.

Other events will include dinners with President Bok, visits to Boston's Citi nightclub and the Museum of Fine Arts, a screening of highlights from the 1989 NCAA men's hockey tournament and symposia on topics ranging from economic policy and recent scientific advances to "The State of Harvard Today."

The class of 1939 will also receive insignia neckties, umbrellas and hats, while the 1954 graduates are being given shirts, tote bags and cassette tapes of "Voices of Harvard," made for the University's 350th anniversary. But members of the class of 1964, in addition to mugs and shirts, will take away a Harvard Swiss army knife.