A Heartier Welcome To The Class of 2009

To the editors:

It was unfortunate that The Crimson Staff chose to publicly berate the Class of 2009 (“Reality Click,” editorial, Sep. 14), stating that our freshmen are unwelcome, and that Harvard is a largely unfriendly and mean place. Such harsh words, from a voice as prominent and respected as The Crimson, do a disservice to all of the students and organizations that try hard to foster a sense of community. This illusion of an acrid social culture risks discouraging and alienating members of the freshman class who have not yet experienced the life and people at Harvard.

The timing of these sentiments was also distressing: after less than a week in Cambridge, newcomers were first asked to imagine hostile upperclassmen and then asked to avoid those upperclassmen, encouraging an artificial chasm in the student body. This attempt at ostracism is unbefitting a Harvard student, a student of any institution, and most generally, a human being. Moreover, The Crimson Staff assumed a universal resentment of the freshmen, which is false.

Though officially sponsored by the Catholic Student Association, this letter could have been written on the behalf of dozens of groups on campus, and an untold number of students, all of whom share the view that it is important to be friendly, make others welcome, and embrace new members of the community. The supporters of this letter hope that the freshman class and all classes at Harvard will ignore any shadows of the purported “mean Harvard” and seek out potential friends and companions from one of the greatest assemblies of young people in the world.

Welcome, freshmen. We hope you enjoy your time with us.

MICHAEL B. O’ROURKE ’08

September 16, 2005

The writer is a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Catholic Student Association.