Fun Czar Goes National

When Zachary A Corker ’04 proposed creating a position to oversee social programming for undergraduates a year ago, he did not anticipate that Playboy Magazine would take an interest in his job.

But after Reuters news service published a piece on his job as Harv––ard’s “Fun Czar” in January, Corker and University Hall were swamped with phone calls and e-mails from a barrage of interested readers—including the celebrated gentleman’s magazine.

Talk radio and local TV interview requests were among the most common communiques he received during the media frenzy. Bigger fish wanted to snap up Corker’s story as well: movie producers including the National Lampoon contacted him, and one company even suggested creating a reality television show centering around the search for Corker’s replacement. Though the College will name its new campus life fellow later this semester, the search will not be televised.

While one of the fun czar’s job requirements is to be a recent Harvard grad, Corker said he received job applications from “southern California sorority girls” hoping to replace him when he departs for the Peace Corps later this year.

Both University Hall and Corker followed a policy of declining any interview requests. Corker has also received at least five e-mails from students at the University of Chicago challenging the Reuter’s piece’s implication that Harvard is the least socially adept place in the country: their school’s unofficial motto is “University of Chicago: Where fun goes to die!”

Corker also said that he received letters from his high school friends telling him that he is not very fun.