Eliot Debates House T-Shirt 'Elitism'

Last year's shirt read "The Five Myths of Eliot House," one of which was that "We Shop at K-Mart." But this year's T-shirt may be a little tamer, if some Eliot residents have their way.

About 30 residents engaged in a heated 45-minute debate at Sunday night's Eliot House Committee meeting to decide what to print on the house T-shirts to be distributed to incoming sophomores.

House resident J. Lincoln Oppenheimer '96 told the audience of about 30 house residents that the T-shirts from the past three years have portrayed an insensitive, elitist image of Eliot House.

Although the house is becoming more diverse, he said, the shirts portray a public image that does not reflect that diversity.

"We do not want to be associated with a house that tries to perpetuate a trap of elitism, that everyone knows invokes image of anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, sexism and classism," Oppenheimer said.

But house committee Co-Chair Vincent P. Fiorino '95 said Oppenheimer and the other disgruntled Eliot residents were misinterpreting the T-shirts.

"We all know that Eliot House is not elitist," he said. "We're just poking fun at an old stereotype."

Fiorino said Eliot is "a friendly place" and added that house ran-domization insures all houses are a microcosm of the entire student body.

But because the shirt are open to different interpretations, some may not seehumor behind the shirt's message, said houseresident Matthew L. Bruce '96.

"People are reading political connotations intoan apolitical thing," Bruce said.

That confusion may be eliminated next year,according to Allison I. Rossi '95, a housecommittee co-chair.

Ending Eliot's 'Old Image'

Rossi said this year's shirt may just featurethe Eliot House symbol with-out any lettering atall.

"We never expected this to provoke such aresponse," Rossi said. "If poking fun at the oldimage is becoming such a serious problem, we'llprobably stop doing it."

As first-years wonder which houses to list inthe upcoming housing lottery, both Rossi andFiorino said they hope the T-shirt debate will notpolarize the house over the upcoming weeks.

"Eliot is great place to live," Rossi said."[The house committee's] goal is to establishhouse unity, not division."

And Fiorino said he hopes Eliot residents willnot let the T-shirt issue take away from housespirit.

Students said the house committee will meetnext week and decide on a shirt before the end ofthe month

"People are reading political connotations intoan apolitical thing," Bruce said.

That confusion may be eliminated next year,according to Allison I. Rossi '95, a housecommittee co-chair.

Ending Eliot's 'Old Image'

Rossi said this year's shirt may just featurethe Eliot House symbol with-out any lettering atall.

"We never expected this to provoke such aresponse," Rossi said. "If poking fun at the oldimage is becoming such a serious problem, we'llprobably stop doing it."

As first-years wonder which houses to list inthe upcoming housing lottery, both Rossi andFiorino said they hope the T-shirt debate will notpolarize the house over the upcoming weeks.

"Eliot is great place to live," Rossi said."[The house committee's] goal is to establishhouse unity, not division."

And Fiorino said he hopes Eliot residents willnot let the T-shirt issue take away from housespirit.

Students said the house committee will meetnext week and decide on a shirt before the end ofthe month