Dudley Offers Alternative Lifestyle

While the mass of undergraduates wishing to catch a glimpse of naked classmates grace the Yard during Primal Scream, students stuck studying in Lamont Library can still get their share of nudity.

As the clock strikes midnight on the last night of reading period each semester, several students of the Dudley Co-op strip off various articles of clothing in Lamont. They proceed to study dressed solely in underwear—just one of the many little-known traditions of the Dudley Co-op and its residents.

The Dudley Co-op is part of Dudley House, a community made up of both students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and about 70 undergraduate students living either in the Dudley Co-op or off-campus. Students who move off-campus can choose to join Dudley House rather than remaining affiliated with their original House.

“It is the best house in the system,” Associate Dean of the College and Allston Burr Senior Tutor in Dudley House Thomas A. Dingman ’67 says. “I don’t know another part of Harvard where there’s the same element of mutual support.”

While Dudley House does not house all affiliated students, 32 of its undergraduates live in the Dudley Co-op—which is classified as on-campus housing but maintains a greater element of independence and individuality.

LIVING LIFE IN THE DUDLEY CO-OP

Above the door of the Dudley Co-op hangs a sign reading, “Center for High-Energy Meta-Physics.” This nickname, playing off the initials HEMP, encompasses the laid-back attitude and free spirit that characterizes the Dudley Co-op and its members.

The Dudley Co-op consists of two Victorian houses 10 minutes away from Harvard Yard, located at 1705 Mass. Ave. and 3 Sacramento St. Most residents live in singles and each house has its own resident tutor.

Dingman describes Co-op inhabitants as “people looking for less of an institutional feel.” And with the Co-op’s home-prepared food and shared chores, residents value the community atmosphere.

A different member of the Co-op cooks a communal dinner each evening, and other chores such as cleaning are performed by the undergraduates.

Generally each student works for about one to two hours per week, in a points system that awards different amounts for varying tasks.

Another incentive for living in the Co-op is the cost of room and board, which is only half as much as in other residential houses and can save residents as much as $3,000 a year, according to the Co-op’s website. Members of the Co-op get other bonuses such as free laundry and free parking and residents in the Mass. Ave. house are also allowed to keep pets.

Members praise the Co-op for giving them individual attention that some complain is often lacking in the other 12 Houses.

DEALING WITH DUDLEY DRAWBACKS

For students living in the Co-op, distance can be difficult, especially during the harsh Boston winters. Harvard’s regular shuttle services does not run to the Co-op and though students can call the Harvard van service, there is often a long wait.

Dining options can also be limited. Communal meals are vegetarian and all other residential dining halls are off-limits.

“We feel disconnected from Harvard sometimes,” says Robin R. Kachka ’05, complaining that Co-op houses were excluded from door-drops of The Crimson, as well as other publications.

The application process to get in to the Dudley Co-op may also seem daunting. Students must apply to be put on the waiting list for the Co-op and gain a spot only when another student leaves.

But the Co-op does has a high turnover rate, with about 10 students leaving at the start of this semester, as students graduate or move on to off-campus or alternative on-campus housing.

Before being accepted, applicants are interviewed by current residents of the Co-op. Rather than an elimination process, the interview is a way for potential members to better understand Co-op life and to get to know students already in the Co-op.

“The importance of the interview is to know what you’re in for,” Dingman says.

Because residents must choose to join the Co-op, members genuinely want to participate and help contribute to its community atmosphere.

“It is a much stronger community [than other houses],” says Sarah K. Howard ’07. “It’s not for everyone but if you’re really interested in communal living and a more intense experience it is an opportunity to be a bigger part of the decision-making.”

The community atmosphere has allowed for the development of some unique traditions including “Thanksoween”­­—an event celebrating Thanksgiving and Halloween complete with “tofurkey,” a tofu turkey.

While mostly Co-op members participate in Co-op traditions, affiliates of Dudley House are also invited.

As Dingman says, “the Co-op is like the Statue of Liberty—it’s very welcoming.”

THE BIG PICTURE: DUDLEY HOUSE

The Dudley Co-op is part of the larger Dudley House community, which ensures that Co-op and off-campus students stay connected to the Harvard community.

Located in the corner of Harvard Yard, Dudley House provides a physical meeting place for students complete with a game room, library, and the popular Café Gato Rojo.

From taking time off to wanting to live at home, a variety of reasons have led undergraduates to affiliate themselves with Dudley.

“Many [Dudley students] have tried the residential houses,” Dingman says, “but want something which they can create themselves.”

Having taken 10 years off after her freshman year at Harvard to play professional tennis, Erika R. de Lone ’05 returned to Harvard and lived off-campus. She was affiliated with Mather House but notes, “Everyone else was pretty much on-campus so I felt like more of an outsider. Dudley is more inclusive and a great option to have.”

Heidi J. Bruggink ’05, another student who took time off after her freshman year, has explored all the options of Harvard housing, having been in Currier House, the Co-op, and currently, off-campus housing.

“It was great coming back to Dudley,” she says, “because they’re so tiny and incredibly helpful. I think Tom Dingman knows my father’s middle name—it’s unbelievable how much he knows about everyone and he does a really good job of providing different levels of social interaction within the house.”

There are also adult students with families living as far away as Cape Cod who commute to and from the university every day, Dingman adds. For them, he explains, it is a huge relief to be affiliated with Dudley, which gives them somewhere to relax and hang out in between classes.

Dingman mentions that parents are occasionally concerned that because Harvard is so centered around residential life, off-campus students will not get the full Harvard experience.

But he brushes off these worries.

“We are very aggressive in our outreach,” he says. “It’s hard to hide in Dudley House!”

—Staff writer Alexandra C. Bell can be reached at acbell@fas.harvard.edu.