'We Were Tested On'

In January 1996, while first-years were facing their first reading period doldrums and an unusually blustery winter, the staff of Harvard Dining Services (HDS) was trying to ease their lives in at least one department.

At the end of that month, the Freshman Union would close its doors for good, and first-years would begin to eat in the newly restored Annenberg Hall across the Yard. Fearful that the transition from the Union to Annenberg would cause a rush on dining halls in the upperclass river houses, Quad Dining Services employees prepared a brochure--including a map with directions from the Yard to the Quad--and distributed it in the Union.

"It's a little far away for freshmen, but we made a map so at least they know how to get here," John Cortese, night supervisor for Quad Dining Services, said at the time.

Not only was the move from the Union to Annenberg historic, but the map instructing first-years on how to find the Quad was prophetic. That March, they would become the first class to be completely randomized into upperclass housing, with many more "Quadded" against their wishes.

The end of the Union and the beginning of randomization symbolize a landmark class that would be the first to witness many milestones, as well as the last to experience certain aspects of the College.

The election of the first female Undergraduate Council president led a wave of campus activism, and the arrival of a new dean of the College inaugurated a changed relationship between students and the adminstration.

Although it is difficult to characterize a sprawling and diverse class, graduating seniors say that certain experiences shared by their class have tinged its perspective and given it a distinct identity.

Year of the Blocking Group

Undoubtedly, the implementation of randomization directly impacted student life more than any event during the past four years. In the spring of 1995, while the class of 1999 was preparing to come to Harvard, the College announced that subsequent classes would have their upperclass housing determined at random, rather than by the non-ordered choice system that had been in place since the early '80s.

From the beginning, randomization was controversial. The Undergraduate Council urged the then-new dean of the College, Harry R. Lewis '68, to review the effects of the policy after three years. Several minority House tutors criticized the policy, alleging that randomization would decrease the effectiveness of support networks for minority students within the Houses.

This April, the College released the first set of blocking group data, which showed an upward trend in the number of large blocking groups after randomization, particularly those at or near the upper limit of 16 people. The data indi- cated that this year, there were 28 blockinggroups with the maximum number of 16 students,significantly more than in the previous threeyears.

Not surprisingly, then, as they pack up theirbelongings and move out of the Houses forever,graduating seniors say the most significant effectof randomization is the way it has made theirblocking groups more cohesive.

Kirkland resident Young K. Lee '99 says hisblock of 14 has come to be called "The Up withPeople Blocking Group" and "The AdmissionsFacebook Blocking Group" because they are suchtight friends to this day. Lee and his blockmatesfrequently eat dinner together, and last week theywere planning to take one last trip--to Martha'sVineyard--as a group.

Lee says he and his friends, most of whom livedin the same first-year entryway, decided to blocktogether because they had no say in their Houseselection and wanted at least to live near peoplethey knew and liked.

"We took the attitude that if we were going tobe stuck in a House...we'd rather be with all thepeople we wanted to," Lee says.

Jennifer R. Weinberg-Wolf '99 of Quincy has hada similar experience because of randomization. Sheand 12 of her friends from Canaday Hall blockedtogether and began to move around campus in a"herd."

"We were able to bring a lot more people inthat way, which we couldn't guarantee because ofrandomization," Weinberg-Wolf says. Like Lee'sblocking group, hers has remained close. Sheets ofposterboard containing inside jokes from theirfour years together cover the wall of one of thegroup's suites.

Some seniors say the class of '99 mightaccurately be dubbed "The Year of the BlockingGroup."

"[After randomization,] people put a lot ofemphasis on who they're blocking with," says FrankE. Pacheco '99, a former House Committee chair inAdams House. "You end up with a group of 16 peoplewho are really good friends and those groups havestuck together and defined the social cliques allthe way through for a lot of people."

Acting Up

In November 1995, while most of this year'sseniors were adjusting to Expository Writing anddorm life, several hundred students flooded theYard to protest the appointment of Judith H. Kiddas the assistant dean of public service. Campuspublic service leaders complained that theadministration had snubbed them in choosing Kiddover their objections and in wielding an iron fistover their programs.

That same fall, a group of mostly olderstudents formed the Progressive UndergraduateCouncil Coalition (PUCC), which swept thecouncil's fall elections and relentlessly pursueda progressive political agenda. Lamelle D. Rawlins'99, a first-year who had signed up for PUCC underthe fall term registration tent, ran for studentbody secretary at the council's first meeting andwon. The role catapulted Rawlins to vice presidenther sophomore year, and to president the next. Shewas the first woman to hold that office.

"The U.C. was an exciting place to be in 1995,and several [members of the class] were galvanizedinto action almost immediately after our arrivalon campus," Rawlins says. "The activism was inlarge part born of our own enthusiasm and from thementoring we received as first-years from veteranstudent activists and leaders."

However, the class of '99 rallied fervently onbehalf of conservative causes as well. In responseto PUCC, Eric M. Nelson '99 formed another councilcoalition called Harvard Students First to steerthe council back towards student-focused issues.In 1997, the student body elected Beth A. Stewart'00 council president, who pushed student servicesto the forefront ahead of activism. The electionsuggested that the student body was lessinterested in political causes than it had been inpreceding years.

That fall, a narrow vote to end HDS's boycottof table grapes exemplified a swing towardconservative activism.

After a month of highly publicized debate andanimosity between pro-and antigrape factions, the"Great Grape Referendum" returned thepreviously-banned fruit to dining halls for Sundaybrunch. Adam R. Kovacevich '99 led the GrapeCoalition, which pressed for an end to the grapeban, while several student groups called forcontinuing the ban to protest the workingconditions of California grape workers. Morestudents participated in the referendum than inany other vote in recent memory.

Student activism led to more communication andconfrontations with University Hall, led by Lewis,who began his term as dean of the College in thefall of 1995, the same time the class of '99walked onto campus.

By taking strong administrative stances onissues like public service and alcohol policy inthat first year, Lewis quickly became the targetfor all student dissatisfaction withadministrative policy.

Lewis' colleagues say he has been an activedean, a change from his relatively hands-offpredecessors.

"He's an innovative dean who doesn't avoidissues, and that's different from hispredecessors," says longtime Harvard administratorand former dean of the College John B. Fox Jr.'59. "He's given a somewhat different flavor tothe College."

End of Radcliffe

Among all the firsts experienced by this year'sseniors, women in the class of '99 will be thelast graduates of the College to have the word"Radcliffe" on their diplomas. The "Class of '99"fleece vests and rings that many seniors boughtlast week will be the last bits of paraphernaliaemblazoned with the Radcliffe shield.

In April, Radcliffe officially ended its daysas an undergraduate college and ceded all controlof undergraduate life to Harvard. RadcliffePresident Linda S. Wilson announced that she wouldretire, leaving the fledgling Radcliffe Institutefor Advanced Study.

A major turning point in the history of theCollege, the dissolution of Radcliffe attractednational attention. Yet some members of the seniorclass say it hardly affected their experience atall.

Tally Zingher '99, the Radcliffe first marshal,says the merger was mostly symbolic. It showedthat "women no longer need to be here under aseparate name."

"It's a sign of positive change that the mergerhappened," says Zingher, who played Radclifferugby and participated in the Women's LeadershipConference. "Most women on campus I've spoken tofeel that Radcliffe didn't affect their dailylives. Calling it a college was not an accuratedescription."

The fall of Radcliffe coincided with a sharprise in the prominence of women on campus.

Lewis says he believes that "the womenundergraduates of this class have taken theirplace at Harvard like no previous class has done."

He cited leaders like Rawlins, former PhillipsBrooks House Association president Elisabeth A.Tomlinson '99 and A.J. Mleczko '97-'99, nationalwomen's hockey player of the year.

"I think of the emergence of these womenleaders more than I do about the anticipated endof Radcliffe's status as a college," Lewis wrotein a recent e-mail message.

E-Mail Revolution

The entrance of the class of 1999 also marked"somewhat of a beginning of an era for computingon campus," says Rick Osterberg '96, coordinatorof residential computing support, with theintroduction of pre-assigned e-mail accounts.

Although most undergraduates had e-mailaccounts by fall 1995, pre-registration was asignificant step: e-mail use was no longer anovelty, but a necessary part of daily life at theCollege.

For many students, e-mail has surpassed thetelephone in importance in campus life. Today,almost all professors and teaching fellows sendcourse announcements by e-mail. Party invitationscan quickly be sent (and forwarded) to dozens ofstudents.

"How people socialize among their friends,organize meetings, has completely changed" becauseof the ubiquity of e-mail, says Baratunde R.Thurston '99, Harvard first marshal and a memberof the advanced support team for FAS ComputerServices.

The rise in the popularity of e-mail has alsoridden an associated boom in computer use oncampus.

The computer systems have undergone numerousmajor upgrades to cope with the increased trafficand load. Also, the support staff for the FASComputer Services has more than doubled during thelast four years to meet the rising demand,according to Osterberg.

Lewis says the increased dependence onnetworked computers has created high expectationsfor graduating seniors.

"I wonder if [this class] will be able toadjust to the cruel outside world of 56K modemsand [Internet service] that you actually have topay for," Lewis wrote in, of course, an e-mailmessage.

Millenial Urgency

The universality of e-mail for the lastgraduating class of the 1900s is symbolic for atransitionary class that has always had its eye onthe future.

"The class of '99 has always embraced amillenial mission," Rawlins says. "We are on theedge of a new century and we are filled with theurgency that comes with that."

Harvard, too, seems filled with urgency. Thenumber of major changes experienced by the classof '99 has led to the sense, says Pacheco, ofbeing "slapped around by the University a lot."

Elizabeth S. Drogin '99, a Radcliffe classmarshal, says the policy revisions witnessed bythe class of '99 affected its outlook.

"We were the class that things were tested on,"she says. "There is a sense that we're a specialclass.

Not surprisingly, then, as they pack up theirbelongings and move out of the Houses forever,graduating seniors say the most significant effectof randomization is the way it has made theirblocking groups more cohesive.

Kirkland resident Young K. Lee '99 says hisblock of 14 has come to be called "The Up withPeople Blocking Group" and "The AdmissionsFacebook Blocking Group" because they are suchtight friends to this day. Lee and his blockmatesfrequently eat dinner together, and last week theywere planning to take one last trip--to Martha'sVineyard--as a group.

Lee says he and his friends, most of whom livedin the same first-year entryway, decided to blocktogether because they had no say in their Houseselection and wanted at least to live near peoplethey knew and liked.

"We took the attitude that if we were going tobe stuck in a House...we'd rather be with all thepeople we wanted to," Lee says.

Jennifer R. Weinberg-Wolf '99 of Quincy has hada similar experience because of randomization. Sheand 12 of her friends from Canaday Hall blockedtogether and began to move around campus in a"herd."

"We were able to bring a lot more people inthat way, which we couldn't guarantee because ofrandomization," Weinberg-Wolf says. Like Lee'sblocking group, hers has remained close. Sheets ofposterboard containing inside jokes from theirfour years together cover the wall of one of thegroup's suites.

Some seniors say the class of '99 mightaccurately be dubbed "The Year of the BlockingGroup."

"[After randomization,] people put a lot ofemphasis on who they're blocking with," says FrankE. Pacheco '99, a former House Committee chair inAdams House. "You end up with a group of 16 peoplewho are really good friends and those groups havestuck together and defined the social cliques allthe way through for a lot of people."

Acting Up

In November 1995, while most of this year'sseniors were adjusting to Expository Writing anddorm life, several hundred students flooded theYard to protest the appointment of Judith H. Kiddas the assistant dean of public service. Campuspublic service leaders complained that theadministration had snubbed them in choosing Kiddover their objections and in wielding an iron fistover their programs.

That same fall, a group of mostly olderstudents formed the Progressive UndergraduateCouncil Coalition (PUCC), which swept thecouncil's fall elections and relentlessly pursueda progressive political agenda. Lamelle D. Rawlins'99, a first-year who had signed up for PUCC underthe fall term registration tent, ran for studentbody secretary at the council's first meeting andwon. The role catapulted Rawlins to vice presidenther sophomore year, and to president the next. Shewas the first woman to hold that office.

"The U.C. was an exciting place to be in 1995,and several [members of the class] were galvanizedinto action almost immediately after our arrivalon campus," Rawlins says. "The activism was inlarge part born of our own enthusiasm and from thementoring we received as first-years from veteranstudent activists and leaders."

However, the class of '99 rallied fervently onbehalf of conservative causes as well. In responseto PUCC, Eric M. Nelson '99 formed another councilcoalition called Harvard Students First to steerthe council back towards student-focused issues.In 1997, the student body elected Beth A. Stewart'00 council president, who pushed student servicesto the forefront ahead of activism. The electionsuggested that the student body was lessinterested in political causes than it had been inpreceding years.

That fall, a narrow vote to end HDS's boycottof table grapes exemplified a swing towardconservative activism.

After a month of highly publicized debate andanimosity between pro-and antigrape factions, the"Great Grape Referendum" returned thepreviously-banned fruit to dining halls for Sundaybrunch. Adam R. Kovacevich '99 led the GrapeCoalition, which pressed for an end to the grapeban, while several student groups called forcontinuing the ban to protest the workingconditions of California grape workers. Morestudents participated in the referendum than inany other vote in recent memory.

Student activism led to more communication andconfrontations with University Hall, led by Lewis,who began his term as dean of the College in thefall of 1995, the same time the class of '99walked onto campus.

By taking strong administrative stances onissues like public service and alcohol policy inthat first year, Lewis quickly became the targetfor all student dissatisfaction withadministrative policy.

Lewis' colleagues say he has been an activedean, a change from his relatively hands-offpredecessors.

"He's an innovative dean who doesn't avoidissues, and that's different from hispredecessors," says longtime Harvard administratorand former dean of the College John B. Fox Jr.'59. "He's given a somewhat different flavor tothe College."

End of Radcliffe

Among all the firsts experienced by this year'sseniors, women in the class of '99 will be thelast graduates of the College to have the word"Radcliffe" on their diplomas. The "Class of '99"fleece vests and rings that many seniors boughtlast week will be the last bits of paraphernaliaemblazoned with the Radcliffe shield.

In April, Radcliffe officially ended its daysas an undergraduate college and ceded all controlof undergraduate life to Harvard. RadcliffePresident Linda S. Wilson announced that she wouldretire, leaving the fledgling Radcliffe Institutefor Advanced Study.

A major turning point in the history of theCollege, the dissolution of Radcliffe attractednational attention. Yet some members of the seniorclass say it hardly affected their experience atall.

Tally Zingher '99, the Radcliffe first marshal,says the merger was mostly symbolic. It showedthat "women no longer need to be here under aseparate name."

"It's a sign of positive change that the mergerhappened," says Zingher, who played Radclifferugby and participated in the Women's LeadershipConference. "Most women on campus I've spoken tofeel that Radcliffe didn't affect their dailylives. Calling it a college was not an accuratedescription."

The fall of Radcliffe coincided with a sharprise in the prominence of women on campus.

Lewis says he believes that "the womenundergraduates of this class have taken theirplace at Harvard like no previous class has done."

He cited leaders like Rawlins, former PhillipsBrooks House Association president Elisabeth A.Tomlinson '99 and A.J. Mleczko '97-'99, nationalwomen's hockey player of the year.

"I think of the emergence of these womenleaders more than I do about the anticipated endof Radcliffe's status as a college," Lewis wrotein a recent e-mail message.

E-Mail Revolution

The entrance of the class of 1999 also marked"somewhat of a beginning of an era for computingon campus," says Rick Osterberg '96, coordinatorof residential computing support, with theintroduction of pre-assigned e-mail accounts.

Although most undergraduates had e-mailaccounts by fall 1995, pre-registration was asignificant step: e-mail use was no longer anovelty, but a necessary part of daily life at theCollege.

For many students, e-mail has surpassed thetelephone in importance in campus life. Today,almost all professors and teaching fellows sendcourse announcements by e-mail. Party invitationscan quickly be sent (and forwarded) to dozens ofstudents.

"How people socialize among their friends,organize meetings, has completely changed" becauseof the ubiquity of e-mail, says Baratunde R.Thurston '99, Harvard first marshal and a memberof the advanced support team for FAS ComputerServices.

The rise in the popularity of e-mail has alsoridden an associated boom in computer use oncampus.

The computer systems have undergone numerousmajor upgrades to cope with the increased trafficand load. Also, the support staff for the FASComputer Services has more than doubled during thelast four years to meet the rising demand,according to Osterberg.

Lewis says the increased dependence onnetworked computers has created high expectationsfor graduating seniors.

"I wonder if [this class] will be able toadjust to the cruel outside world of 56K modemsand [Internet service] that you actually have topay for," Lewis wrote in, of course, an e-mailmessage.

Millenial Urgency

The universality of e-mail for the lastgraduating class of the 1900s is symbolic for atransitionary class that has always had its eye onthe future.

"The class of '99 has always embraced amillenial mission," Rawlins says. "We are on theedge of a new century and we are filled with theurgency that comes with that."

Harvard, too, seems filled with urgency. Thenumber of major changes experienced by the classof '99 has led to the sense, says Pacheco, ofbeing "slapped around by the University a lot."

Elizabeth S. Drogin '99, a Radcliffe classmarshal, says the policy revisions witnessed bythe class of '99 affected its outlook.

"We were the class that things were tested on,"she says. "There is a sense that we're a specialclass.