Project 45: Harvard Social Forum's Foray Into Student Space
When the men and women of SASSI-WOOF met last week to plot strategy in their total war on final clubs, they did not have to look far to find a room for their gathering—and they did not have to apply for access to a JCR, either. Their pad: 45 Mt. Auburn Street, the current home or the Harvard Social Forum (HSF), a self-described justice league that, along with other start-up non-profits, moved their office into the property this year.
For a group that advocates the conversion of all final clubs into University-owned student centers, 45 Mt. Auburn St. is not just a place to hold meetings. It’s also a test-case in the possibilities of non-exclusive social space.
Though the four-story house is, like the final clubs, privately owned, coordinators say the first-floor meeting space is open to any students whose philosophies fit HSF’s loose mission statement. According to a representative from the Foundation for Civic Leadership (FCL), the non-profit that owns the house, HSF has been asked to develop a policy that welcomes all sorts of public interest groups—not just those that are affiliated with HSF.
Talks with the FCL have yet to determine how space will be used, and what characteristics groups will need to possess to qualify for it.
A House With a Past
In the meantime, HSF has been hosting meetings, parties and open-mics practically every weekend. At these gatherings, there is no bouncer at the door, no guest list and no entrance fee.
Rachel Bolden-Kramer ’06, who sits on HSF’s coordinating committee, calls HSF the categorical opposite of finals clubs—a nest of cooperation where the branches of Harvard’s social justice effort can consolidate and pool their resources. With the help of FCL, the house has also been used by other non-profits such as the League of Independent Voters, Global Justice and the Sierra Club. HSF, which associates itself with a large number of student groups ranging from the Spoken Word Society and Socialist Alternative to the Black Men’s Forum and SASSI-WOOF, hopes to make the space available for all its affiliates.
The house also has a history SASSI-WOOF would love to repeat.
For years, 45 Mt. Auburn was home to the now-defunct Pi Eta Speakers club, whose demise came in 1991 after a string of incidents that damaged the club’s reputation. In 1986, a woman alleged she was raped by a Harvard student while at the club until a lack of evidence moved the district attorney’s office to drop the case; in 1989, Harvard University Police arrested three men for brawling in front of the club’s entrance; and in 1988, a student at Northeastern University charged she was raped at the club. The case was settled out of court in 1991, and the woman dropped charges.
But the fate of the Pi’s reputation was sealed by 1991, not least after a Crimson article claimed “the club maintained an unsanitary ‘mattress room’ for sexual exploits and promoted the room in its newsletters.”
Later that year, angry Pi Eta alumni—including then-Massachusetts State Treasurer Joseph D. Malone ’78—stepped in, closing the club down but maintaining ownership of the building until 1996, when Sigma Chi became a co-owner.
The fraternity obtained a property at 1124 Mass. Ave., leaving the house open for bidding.
Looking Forward
HSF’s mission, for better or for worse, is a somewhat vague and interpretable one, promising that the group will “build solidarity among campus organizations by better understanding how our social justice work is related to larger systems of oppression including white supremacy, male supremacy, economic inequality, and heterosexism.”
As a result, any student is welcome in HSF, and although their parties, albeit alcohol-free, resemble any other dorm dance, there aren’t nearly as many restrictions on who can come in and who must stay out. At open-mics, people sit on couches and listen to freestyle spoken word performers, vocalists, and whoever else happens to come by that day. At parties, Bolden-Kramer says, the DJ makes an effort to play “conscious music” to further HSF’s emphasis on social justice. At last Sunday’s Halloween carnival, guests made costumes, masks and caramel apples, spray painting a mural the whole time and carving pumpkins.
According to Bolden-Kramer, a ’98-00 graduate named Ian Simmons, who during his years at Harvard was part of the Living Wage Campaign, the Undergraduate Council and the Philips Brooks House, was instrumental in sparking initial talks with HSF. According to Simmons, Aaron Tanaka ’04—a cofounder of HSF—approached FCL with a proposal last summer, and discussions about 45 Mt. Auburn have been going on since.
Bolden-Kramer emphasized that the house does not belong to HSF, and according to Simmons, only part of the first floor area would be open to student groups under the pending agreement.
With an open-armed powerhouse like HSF giving shelter to Harvard’s less connected groups, SASSI-WOOF can only hope the trend will spread.