Give Yard Parties a Chance

Many Harvard first-years’ ideal night is spent jaunting from the Cockpit to the Belltower sipping beer alongside signs saying, “You Must Be 21 To Drink.” For students who do not share this enthusiasm, however, upperclass parties funded by the Undergraduate Council (UC) have little allure. The UC’s decision to augment freshman party grants with an additional $150 per week is a step forward in improving social life for all students on campus that we hope will continue beyond the current three-week trial period.

The obvious argument against increasing freshman party funds is that upperclassman parties where alcohol flows freely are the social foci of campus and deserve to be funded as such. What makes Harvard unique, however, is the fact that freshmen live together, eat together, and socialize together without institutionalized social structures to draw them apart. In the spirit of Harvard’s concern with class unity, it is wise to encourage freshman solidarity.

The assumption that freshmen can only enjoy themselves at upperclass parties is misguided; in fact, many freshmen would rather go to a fun, intimate party in the Yard than knock on doors in Houses looking for a party that will admit them. Moreover, the belief that freshman parties are doomed from the start just because they are dry is incorrect. Freshmen have been known to attract some older students to their soirées, and alcohol still makes an appearance at many a freshman bash despite the fact that it is prohibited and not reimbursed.

Students who drink already reap the majority of the UC’s social generosity; however, the $75 opt-out student activities fee is charged to the termbills of drinkers and non-drinkers alike. According to the Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Services, 50 percent of incoming freshmen identified as abstainers. Funneling the majority of party funds to venues where the primary focus is alcohol cuts off social options for students who choose not to drink. By funding more freshman parties, the UC is wisely extending a hand to a traditionally ignored demographic.

It may indeed be difficult for freshmen to spend $100 on a dry party—the traditional chips and salsa don’t cost that much, and the fund is not meant to bankroll fancy meals for small groups of freshman. Consequently, the UC should consider issuing six $50 grants instead of three $100 grants. No matter how the money is distributed, though, encouraging a diverse range of social opportunities is the best route to a happier student body across all four years. If there is a demand for freshman parties–and there is–the UC is right to give them a financial leg up.

Emma M. Lind ’09, a Crimson associate editorial chair, is a history and literature concentrator in Winthrop House. Garrett G. D. Nelson ‘09, a Crimson editorial editor, is a social studies concentrator in Cabot House. Nathaniel S. Rakich ‘10, a Crimson editorial editor, lives in Greenough Hall.