HoCos Fete Their Students in Threes

When it comes to House formals this winter, three is apparently not a crowd.

Leverett, Lowell and Winthrop united for their event on Sunday night. Mather, Dunster and Quincy joined forces last night and the Quad houses will combine tomorrow.

This winter marks a return to the tri-house formal for Lowell after a year’s absence. It wasn’t a matter of saving money, since the House Committee “takes a hit every formal,” said Lowell HoCo co-chair Adam J. Cohon ’03. Instead, he said, residents had asked for a return to the multi-House event.

By teaming up, the Houses took a step up in location. The Leverett-Lowell-Winthrop formal took place in the swanky Bay Tower Room, 33 floors above downtown Boston. Recent Lowell formals had taken place in-House and at the Cambridge Marriot and the Tremont Hotel in Boston.

Leverett HoCo co-chair Jennifer E. Kavanagh ’03 said that although the cost to each House was about equal to the fee for a cheaper, smaller venue, combining three budgets resulted in a classier space.

“It was really beautiful, with a spectacular view,” she said. “It really adds something.”

A demand on campus for winter formals, in addition to the Houses’ usual solo events in the spring, has led to the trio of tri-House formals, Cohon said.

The increase in numbers with three Houses adds an element of extravagance, Kavanagh said—“it’s just a bigger party.”

In 2001, in order to reduce costs, Mather House shared its winter formal with Dunster.

This year, as a result of what Mather HoCo co-chair Emerson G. Farrell ’03 called a “revitalizing” of the House’s finances, Mather was financially secure enough that cost was not a major issue.

The main motive in inviting other Houses was making up for winter formals’ traditionally lower attendance as school work piles up at the end of the semester, he said.

Last year’s success convinced Mather organizers to re-invite their neighbors and include Quincy House. With three Houses participating, they said, the event would be ensured of enough people to guarantee a crowded party atmosphere.

“It’s more fun with a packed club as opposed to half-full,” Farrell said.

The Mather-Dunster-Quincy formal was held last night in a locale selected by a professional party planner—Club Aria, a venue on Tremont Street in Boston that the Boston Citysearch website describes as evoking “the sensual opulence of a bordello.”

Its finances secure, Mather also hosted a free 21-and-over pre-formal Stein Club, open to members of all three Houses.

Farrell called it “an effort to make sure everyone has a good time beforehand.”

Even with the advantages that other Houses have found in joining forces, some Houses continue to stand alone. For example, the holiday dinner and dance in Kirkland culminates the House’s “Secret Santa week.”

“It serves as a long-standing Kirkland tradition,” said HoCo chair Sloan J. Eddleston ’04. “It’s really not feasible for other Houses to join.”

But he added that Kirkland has participated in joint dances in the past and is not averse to the concept in general.