Lonely Campus, Hospitable Houses

The first week, Zachary C. Sifuentes ’97-’99 cooked “aji de garbanzos,” a spicy Bolivian broth with tomatoes and garbanzo beans that he served with white rice. Alongside the stew was a salad, and he made a sorbet with green mangoes, basil, and Thai bird’s eye chilies for dessert.

That morning, Sifuentes, an Adams House tutor and Expository Writing 20 preceptor, went to Whole Foods Market to buy ingredients—always vegetarian, usually vegan, and almost all organic.

The diners at this Jan. 7 meal were a group of around 14 Adams residents, including students who did not head home for the January term and were only able to enjoy a home-cooked meal thanks to Sifuentes. For the three-course meal, he charged students $5—less than the cost of a burrito in the Square.

As a result of these meals, Sifuentes says that people who normally do not interact with each other—be it because they live in different entryways or travel in separate social circles—have come together and “rearranged themselves.”

“You may see people in your entryway, but you have no idea who’s milling around,” he says. “We’re just trying to do things here in Adams House that bring people together.”

In the face of sparsely occupied residence halls and regulations that discourage some social activities, many House tutors and administrators are trying to promote a spirit of community during the College’s first-ever January Term, filling the void with activities in which students can bond over food, film, and friends.

A WINTER NO-MAN’S-LAND

Many J-Term residents say they sense a palpable air of desolation in the Houses caused by uneven occupation of the entryways and a lack of events.

“It feels like a ghost town,” says Jacqueline N. Nkuebe ’10, a Winthrop House resident who is staying on campus during January. “It’s nice that it’s quiet and also bad that it’s quiet, but I have some friends that are on campus.”

The silence filling the Houses can be explained, in part, by rules put into place by the College that ban parties and overnight guests. The regulations threaten non-compliant students with dismissal from housing this winter and potentially during future winters.

Then, there’s the simple fact that fewer people are in the Houses. Although a total of 1,316 students were granted January housing, Interim Director of Advising Programs Inge-Lise Ameer said in October that the number of students at Harvard at any given moment would be around 1,000. With a total enrollment of 6,655 students at the College, according to the Registrar’s Office, that means less than one out of every six students has been present at a given time in January.

Not only are there fewer residents, but the distribution of students across some entryways appears to be skewed, with senior-heavy entryways being more populated because of students working on theses, according to Adams House tutor Matt J. Corriel ’05. He added that as some student groups, such as the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, return to campus, the proportion of non-seniors to seniors has increased, ameliorating the imbalance.

But to those in the Houses, people still seem few and far between.

“I see some boys watching TV in the big TV room, and I’ve seen a few people in the JCR eating, but it seems like a lot less to me, less than I expected,” Dara B. Olmsted ’00, a tutor in Mather House, said of the number of students in the House during January.

IN SEARCH OF FOOD

To bring together students separated by vacant rooms and empty hallways, many Houses have held events to foster community, ranging from the large home-cooked meals in Adams House to Master’s open houses, smaller dinners, and study breaks.

House gatherings over J-Term largely centered around food, catering to upperclassmen tired of walking to Annenberg for each meal. As House dining halls are closed, Currier and Leverett Resident Deans each organized a House dinner. Cabot, Kirkland, and Lowell held s’mores study breaks.

Even at movie nights, many students came for the food. Winthrop House’s showing of the film “Star Trek” attracted 10 to 12 students, but a few just grabbed pizza and left, according to Nkuebe, a Winthrop resident.

“I thought it was a lot of fun, and it’s a lot better than trekking to Annenberg to get dinner,” she said.

But even with the prospect of food, not all of the events attracted many attendees.

Olmsted planned a movie night with snacks, announcing the screening of “The Proposal” over the Mather list three hours before the movie began. Only four people attended.

Mather hasn’t had any other planned events, so Olmsted has seen few students, she said.

“Supposedly there’s 80 to 100 students, but I’ve seen like 10,” she said.

LEADING THE PACK

While the majority of Houses offered one event at most, Adams House and Winthrop House both held at least three.

Each Wednesday, Adams House held weekly dinners. On Thursdays, Sifuentes organized a series of weekly dinner and movie nights, watching “Up” the first week after serving his Bolivian stew. The second week, they watched “The Bourne Ultimatum” after sharing a meal of lentil coconut soup, Chinese potstickers, and apple crisp.

Corriel also invited all Adams residents to watch the 20th anniversary episode of “The Simpsons,” though he said only two students showed up.

Winthrop residents watched “Good Will Hunting” and “Star Trek,” and feasted on Noch’s, Oggi, and Crazy Dough’s pizza at a “Symphony of Pizza” dinner night on Tuesday.

But even Winthrop resident Nkuebe said she wished there had been more J-Term events.

She mentioned MIT’s “Independent Activities Period,” their equivalent of Harvard’s J-Term. During the four-week period in January, MIT offers a mix of activities—including science fiction marathons, whisky tastings, and tango workshops—and a few classes for credit.

“When I think about J-Term, I think about my friends over at MIT who have a very well structured IAP,” Nkuebe said. “So comparing the two is easy to do. But I think Winthrop is doing a great job.”

—Staff writer Danielle J. Kolin can be reached at dkolin@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Naveen N. Srivatsa can be reached at srivatsa@fas.harvard.edu.