Burn, Baby, Burn

Burning boats on Housing Night may not be one of Harvard’s most historic traditions, but try telling that to the scores of freshmen who experienced a police crackdown in the recent Housing Day “Quad boat incident.”

For several years, freshmen students have trudged to the Charles River to light small boats on fire on the eve of Housing Day in hope of securing a desired House placement. This year, however, Cambridge and Harvard police aggressively shut down the ritual. Several boats of more outlandish construction may have merited intervention, but the overall crackdown carried out by HUPD was excessive.

It seems incredible that a few flimsy craft, doomed to sail a few feet and then crumple in flames, posed a real safety threat. Obviously, students cannot be allowed to endanger themselves and others with reckless behavior, but a degree of trust must be maintained between authorities and those whom they protect. We fail to see the pressing danger of the popular boat release commensurate with the enthusiasm of the police response.

HUPD plays a key role in the lives of all Harvard students, maintaining their safety and peace of mind. Yet, as a college police force, discretion should be the crux of policy. HUPD is, after all, looking after the students. We recognize its efforts to protect the community from without, but HUPD could perhaps show more common sense in policing students from within. Strictly monitoring Housing Night does not seem the best allocation of resources.

The tradition of the Quad boats is young, but this does not discount its importance to the student body. All traditions are fresh and new at some point; for all its history, Harvard should embrace new traditions along with the old. Random housing is itself a recent innovation, so it stands to reason that traditions related to the moment of random selection are young. The Quad boat tradition’s popularity helps encourage a sense of community among freshmen and the greater undergraduate community. The university, with so many cogs to keep functioning, can at times seem more concerned with minutiae and protocol than with undergraduate welfare. We urge the university to look kindly upon such student-driven institutions instead of casting them down.

At the same time, students must be reasonable themselves with their constructions. The birth of any tradition comes with growing pains and the codification of what is considered acceptable or excessive. The boats that prompted HUPD’s initial response this year probably went too far, but this lesson should be passed down. Quad boats, and the sentiment behind them, should continue as a tradition.