Take Down the "Winter" Decorations

Harvard, it seems, is very happy about winter. House common spaces all over campus are adorned with festive "winter" decorations. House dining halls are playing host to "winter" feasts. House committees are organizing "winter" caroling. I, for one, am confused. Since when is the onset of short, dreary, cold days, and downright frigid nights, a cause for rejoicing? In short, who are we kidding?

Christmas has come to Harvard, and once again its arrival is accompanied by sickening hypocrisy. Decorated fir trees, green wreaths and red ribbons are Christmas decorations, not non-sectarian seasonal garnishes. Those in the Christian majority can claim otherwise until they're blue in the face, but they're not convincing any-one. Even if the trees and wreaths have no direct religious significance, they are cultural banners of a religious celebration--a celebration not shared by everyone.

Those of us in the religious minority celebrate our various holidays in the privacy of our rooms, or in other appropriately designated community spaces. Students celebrating Christmas are certainly free to do likewise--they can erect trees, mount wreaths, hang lights from their fire escapes, even construct nativity scenes in their own private domains. If they want to share their holiday they can invite friends over for a Christmas party.

Why is the Christian majority permitted by the administration to transform common residential areas, like dining halls and entry-ways, into out-posts of Christmas cheer?

Perhaps it is because they are a majority. The majority gets a decisive say in what common areas look like: they want those areas to look like the festive interior of a suburban shopping mall, and so up goes the tree. Of course, this can't be the rationale. Harvard claims a commitment to diversity and pluralism. They claim a commitment to the protection of minorities. They even have an official policy regarding incidents of racial "insensitivity." It seems reasonable that a concern for insensitivity should extend into the religious realm as well. A majority inclination is surely not enough to justify any scheme of House interior decor.

Therefore, the assumption must exist that Christmas decorations are entirely benign. Unfortunately, they are not. The presence of displays in House common areas implies the sanction of the entire House. When so many House areas are filled with the symbols of one particular faith, it carries a very clear message: the entire community is involved in a celebration. Those who don't share in that celebration thereby feel alienated from the community. No ill-intent need lie behind the motivation of those responsible for the decorations, the harm is done nonetheless. This sort of phenomenon is well known to gay rights activists and feminists. It is known as cultural presumption.

According to Adam A. Sofen '01, co-chair of the B.G.L.T.S.A, cultural presumption in the sphere of sexuality manifests its itself as "hetero-sexism," which is "the presumption that everyone is straight." Sofen notes, "This is not malignant per se, but it is harmful." In the feminist movement one finds this concern raised particularly with regard to language. The word "freshman" is not overtly offensive, but according to feminists it carries the presumption that everyone to whom it refers is male, no matter how vigorously one protests that it is being used in a gender-neutral sense. Therefore, campus feminists campaigned for, and the College adopted, the term "first-year."

No matter how vigorously anyone argues that the Christmas tree has become a secular artifact, it is still a Christmas tree, and carries all the associated symbolism when it is placed in House foyers. Sofen remarks, "I find it funny that in a school so committed to diversity, this doesn't occur to anyone--at least no one in the administration."

How is this hypocrisy best resolved? The answer is certainly not the distribution of a few token menorahs and Kwanzaa lights. The notion that December is the month for religious expression is Christian in origin. The most important holidays of other religious fall at other times during the year. And, it would be impractical for the College to force House Masters and Committees to stage religious displays in honor of each and every holiday.

In the interest of fairness, it would be best for the Houses to avoid actively promoting religious festivities of any kind. We can share in each other's cultures in more appropriate venues, such as Memorial Church, the Catholic Student Center, Hillel, or better yet, in the intimacy of our individual rooms. We can even celebrate in public spaces, so long as it is clear that those celebrations are arranged by religious groups and not the general residential authorities.

Every December, when the "winter" decorations go up, I am astonished. We attend an institution where concerned students were able to convince administrators that the word "freshman" was pernicious. How is it that those same administrators can't understand that the House-sponsored display of symbols celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, isn't similarly problematic?

Noah D. Oppenheim '00 is a social studies concentrator in Adams House. His column appears on alternate Fridays.