HoCo Parties Get Their Groove Back

Thanks to a proliferation of parties sponsored by House Committees (HoCo), even those of you without friends can find a party on weekends—provided, of course, that you buy a ticket.

While there were only three HoCo events open to the entire campus last fall—Currier House’s Heaven and Hell, Adams' Masquerade and Leverett’s ’80s Dance—this semester promises to keep the parties coming.

Cabot Country, a HoCo party that featured both rap and country music, made its debut two weekends ago. Heaven and Hell is this weekend, and Mather Toga is scheduled for Nov. 13.

HoCo parties are open to all undergraduates, and this equal access is the great asset of these parties, said Adriana Dolgetta ’05, Cabot HoCo co-social chair.

Robert M. Koenig ’05, Currier HoCo chair, agreed about the virtue of easily accessible vice when it comes to his HoCo’s party, Heaven and Hell.

“We consider it a service to Currier House, their guests, and the rest of campus,” Koenig said.

Unlike other HoCo parties, Heaven and Hell, scheduled for this Saturday, is free. Koenig said that Currier loses “hundreds of dollars” each year throwing the party. “We pay for everything except for extra security guards and BAT [Beverage Authorization Team] teams,” Koenig said.

But Reed A. Malin ’07, who attended Cabot Country, said he was disappointed with the turnout.

“There was never a point during the night when there was a crowd,” Malin said. “My impression of House parties is not too high, so I probably won’t go back.”

Malin said, however, that he might make an exception for the Leverett ’80s Dance, which is an institution among Harvard HoCo-sponsored parties.

One of the oldest House parties around, the dance draws hundreds of attendants in the spring and fall.

Cooper R. Bachman ’06, co-chair of Leverett’s social committee, estimated that their spring dance raised nearly $3,000.

Leverett’s ’80s Dance is exceptionally profitable, in large part because of its low costs, said Joshua A. Reyes ’06, Leverett’s social committee co-chair.

The orchestrators of the newer parties such as Cabot Country and Mather Toga are quick to praise Leverett’s event.

Bachman credits the success of Leverett’s dance to the fact that it’s been around for years.

“I think for a lot of the newer stuff, like Cabot Country, it just doesn’t have the same kind of word of mouth,” Bachman said. “We’ve just been doing it every year and it runs really smoothly.”

Dolgetta said the ’80s Dance laid the groundwork of the new breed of HoCo parties. Following in the footsteps of Leverett once more, Cabot plans for an encore of Cabot Country this spring.

All HoCos, however, face the challenge of drawing people to a party that can’t serve alcohol, said Darren S. Morris ’05, Mather HoCo co-chair.

“One obstacle to the HoCos throwing more quality parties is a College rule stating that events held in Houses and open to the whole College cannot serve alcohol, even with a BAT team,” Morris said.

“The College should change this rule because it unnecessarily restricts what are the safest parties on campus, reducing the potential of the on-campus social scene,” he said.