Houses Prep For Tailgate Revelry

Twenty gallons of chili, a bulldog piñata, and a “Crunk Clock” will have to compensate for a slower-than-usual flow of alcohol at the tailgate before this Saturday’s Harvard-Yale football game.

House Committees (HoCos) have begun finalizing ideas for their Houses’ tailgates this week, despite a delay in receiving the official rules of the tailgate, which many called confusing.

As a result of this year’s rules, many HoCos are planning lower-key events than in the past, and alcohol is notably absent from some of them. In addition, the only music allowed will be provided by a Yale student DJ.

“It’s very difficult to see what they expect us to do at the tailgate,” said Pforzheimer HoCo Co-Chair Noah A. Rosenblum ’08.

Murky rules regarding serving alcohol and reservations about checking attendees’ ages have led many HoCos to decide against having alcohol at all.

Cabot House is still deciding whether to go with Mardi Gras or Mexican fiesta as its theme. But either way, the margaritas or mojitos will be virgin.

College administrators notified HoCos that they will be subject to Connecticut drinking laws. But committee members are on their own to find out what those laws are, Rosenblum said.

Eliot HoCo, however, is still planning on serving champagne on Saturday, and Mather intends to go ahead with its “Crunk Clock” that will sound an alarm every half hour to indicate “Crunk Time,” or time to drink.

“I actually just talked to [the equivalent of] a HoCo chair at Yale, and from my understanding and from their understanding and from what we heard from our dean, the HoCos are allowed to bring in alcohol,” said Eliot HoCo Co-Chair Chiki E. Gupta ’08.

Still, Eliot’s tradition of spiked cider is a casualty of a new prohibition on electric generators. Committee members decided no cider was better than cold cider.

And some HoCo Chairs were disappointed in the decision to centralize the music, especially in light of the DJ’s location—near the Yale residential-college tailgates but on the opposite side of the Harvard HoCo tailgates.

“I think it was nice that the Houses’ had their own kinds of themes or own personalities reflected in their music or their tailgates” last year, Gupta said.
HoCo members also criticized what they called a prolonged lack of communication regarding the rules.

“I think the biggest thing—and it’s just totally inexplicable—was the major communication breakdown that took place between Yale, Harvard, and the Houses,” Rosenblum said. “They didn’t get us any information for such a long time. Then we got the information and it was so cryptic and incomplete.”

Rosenblum said that as recently as two weeks ago, HoCos had not been told what the guidelines would be. Several College deans were unavailable for comment yesterday.

Even though some HoCos said they were forced to change their plans after finally finding out what the rules would be, committees have come up with small-scale activities to offer.

Pforzheimer, for one, will provide 20 gallons of chili, made by a Pfoho resident and chili-cooking champion. Cabot is working on putting together a competition with its sister college at Yale, Trumbull, possibly including a bulldog-shaped piñata.

—Staff writer Aditi Banga can be reached at abanga@fas.harvard.edu.        
—Staff writer Victoria B. Kabak can be reached at vkabak@fas.harvard.edu.