Students Party Extra Hour

Harvard students came one hour closer to partying until the break of dawn this weekend as six Houses extended their party hours until 2 a.m.

According to partygoers, hosts and administrators, the longer parties in Cabot, Eliot, Kirkland, Lowell, Mather and Pforzheimer Houses successfully cleared the first hurdle this weekend toward achieving permanently extended party hours.

Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 approved the provisional extension last week. Whether and when to begin extending hours is up to individual House Masters.

According to several Masters, one of the major concerns heading into the weekend was whether the extended party hours would disturb the community.

Kyle P. Cremarosa ’04, who attended the “Caveman Capone” party in Cabot on Friday, said he shared those concerns.

“It’s just an evaluation period. If it doesn’t work out, the 2 a.m. thing will be shut down,” he said. “Hopefully, everyone will realize what’s going on.”

Laurie A. Maranian ’07, who attended the City Step party in the Pfoho bell tower suite Friday, echoed concerns that the party would disturb Cambridge residents late at night.

“People aren’t going to be more quiet,” she said. “Everyone’s too drunk. No one has any idea what’s going on.”

But according to Undergraduate Council President Matt W. Mahan ’05, those fears did not play out.

“I haven’t gotten any negative feedback. I haven’t heard about people being abusive, [or] about additional damage,” Mahan said. “It’s only Sunday afternoon, but the feedback from students has been pretty positive.”

Mahan added he heard complaints from students who were disappointed that their Houses did not opt to immediately extend their party hours.

“The only negative feedback I’ve heard is from people whose Masters didn’t let the parties run until 2,” he said. “They read The Crimson and thought that they’d try to have parties until 2 anyway, and then they were upset when someone came by at 1 to shut it down. I think the dean’s office could have been a little less vague about Masters’ discretion in extending party hours.”

Eliot resident tutor Karen M. Teoh, who was on call this weekend, said that she did not hear complaints directly from students or from entryway tutors.

“For Eliot, this was a good start. The parties were conducted well and ended on time,” Teoh said.

She stressed the importance of ending parties on time.

“The later party hours will be successful if party hosts would continue to get guests out on time, if there are no disturbances either within the College or outside. Essentially, it’s the same courtesies we would expect if the parties ended at 1:00.”

The possibility that later party hours might disturb Cambridge residents was a particular concern for Quad parties. But Emily M. Mott ’07, who worked the 10:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. Quad shift for the Harvard University Campus Escort Program (HUCEP) Friday night, said that people leaving Quad parties appeared to be under control.

“There were a few groups of people leaving, but they weren’t noisy. There weren’t huge throngs of noisy, drunken people,” Mott said. “Almost everyone went back to the Quad Houses or waited and took the shuttle. Very few people were walking on the streets.”

ON YOUR BEST BEHAVIOR

Some hosts said that they felt the increased pressure of setting a good example.

Mahan, who held a party Saturday in his Kirkland room, said he felt obligated to make sure that everything ran smoothly—both for the sake of throwing a good party and because of his role as council president.

“There’s no doubt that it does have a little bit of added significance. That’s why we’ve spent the whole day cleaning up and recycling,” Mahan said. “I did put myself on the line a bit by writing an op-ed about parties and calling on students to be more responsible, so yeah, there was potential for it to be bad. We were trying to be careful to make sure that it went well—we didn’t want to screw it up.”

Zachary L. Bercu ’04, a member of the blocking group in the Pfoho bell tower suite who helped set up the AEPi party there Saturday, said he felt this weekend’s parties had a responsibility to set a standard for the community.

“This is a trial run of 2 a.m. party hours. We want to show it’s important, we can pull it off well, we can pull it off right, and we want to show the city of Cambridge and the Harvard community that it can be done,” Bercu said.

EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS

Christine A. Capone ’06 held a themed party in her Cabot room Friday—encouraging guests to “get in touch with your inner caveman”—in honor of her 20th birthday.

She said that guests stayed noticeably longer at the party because of the extended hours.

“I did feel like there were a bunch of guys who would usually go to a bar that stayed at the party,” Capone said. “There’s no reason to do the bar scene if you’re at a party that you like [with the extended hours] and the bar also closes at 2:00 am.”

Cremarosa, who attended “Caveman Capone,” said that the extended hours would enable hosts to be more creative with their themes.

“People are going to try to put more effort into parties. It will be better for everyone,” he said.

Bercu said that the new party hours represent a significant improvement over the 1 a.m. limit.

“Many parties climax toward the 1 [a.m.] hour. Having the parties end then just cuts it off at its peak,” Bercu said.

“That one extra hour I feel like makes a huge difference for students,” he said.

Bercu added that the 1 a.m. party hours had hurt Harvard’s reputation.

“Other schools, even of our caliber, don’t have to deal with the 1 a.m. cutoff. It hurts our standing with the other schools,” Bercu said. “Harvard likes to be competitive in academics and extracurriculars, and social life is another areas to be competitive in.”

Rashan Jibowu ’06 said at Friday’s City Step party in the Pfoho bell tower suite that the new party hours should help to normalize the Harvard social life.

“This makes us more like any other college,” he said.

THE PRICE OF PARTYING

A peripheral effect of the extended party hours is that parties will become more expensive, said Sloan J. Eddleston ’04, the co-host of Saturday’s Kirkland party.

“We have throwing parties pretty much down to a science now because we’ve been having about a party a month for a year now,” he said. “But the 2 [a.m.] party hours definitely revolutionize the way the whole thing works. There will be more people coming by for a longer amount of time.”

But Eddleston said the council’s party grants helped to make extended parties possible.

“The costs of an extra hour might be prohibitive for some, but that the UC has the party grant program to give us $100 helps with that. Because of that money, the costs of the party are really the extra costs of having fun,” he said.

Capone also said that the council funding would be crucial to encourage more partying.

“It really helps that the UC helps to pay for the party. It will let us do stuff like this much more often,” she said.

Mahan said that it might be possible for the council to increase the size of party grants next fall if the extended party hours become permanent and there are eight to 10 parties thrown per week.

—Staff writer Alan J. Tabak can be reached at tabak@fas.harvard.edu.