Bridging the Town-Gown Gap

Increased student involvement in the Cambridge community was the theme of a panel held before winter break, sponsored by the Institute of Politics' (IOP) "Pizza and Politics" program. Panelists encouraged students to take a more active role in the community outside the University by participating in both social service and politics and also suggested that Cambridge history be taught during first-year Orientation Week. We couldn't agree more.

For many students, involvement in the Cambridge community through the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) or the IOP is already part of their extracurricular lives. But for others, Harvard might as well be in a vacuum, sealed off from its city by ivy walls. The College is in a position to change that image and reality by teaching us about Cambridge's history and today's local communities during the first days of our time here. With this information, we would better understand our new home and new neighbors. The history lesson would be well complemented by tours of the city--not the usual Yard, Square and Garden Street loop, but a trip to more unfamiliar parts of the city, perhaps including East Cambridge, Cambridgeport and Riverside.

For the rest of us for whom Orientation Week is a fading memory, it's not too late to become a part of the city around us. Volunteer to help children with their homework in PBHA's Fresh Pond Enrichment Programs. Spend an evening at a soup kitchen. Join a local political campaign and make a difference. In the words of Cambridge resident Dorothy E. Bourget: "Harvard students are in a wonderful position to do so many things. I would love to see them spend some of their time and energy in the Cambridge community."