CSL Talks Clubs, Dining

The Committee on Student Life recognized 21 new student organizations and reflected on student complaints regarding interhouse dining restrictions at yesterday’s meeting.

Of the 28 student groups that applied for official College recognition this semester, 21 were accepted, four were deferred, one was rejected, and two were sent to the Department of Athletics for recognition.

The applicants will be informed of the official decisions by Monday, said Assistant Dean of Harvard College for Student Life David R. Friedrich.

The committee—including House Masters, College administrators, and Undergraduate Council members—contemplated lowering the number of groups approved in future semesters to encourage more collaboration between student organizations.

The other issue discussed by the committee was interhouse dining restrictions, which many CSL members said have escalated in severity over the last few years.

The committee agreed that dining restrictions are sometimes necessary, like in the centrally-located Adams House, but some said that farther River Houses should be more open to outsiders.

“Students’ lives are very much impacted at Harvard by where they cannot go,” said Undergraduate Council President Johnny F. Bowman ‘11, later adding, “Dining hall restrictions are very much a part of that, or are becoming more a part of that than they ever have been.”

Early last week, all the Quad houses were paired with sister River houses where dining restrictions will not apply: Currier with Eliot and Winthrop, Cabot with Lowell and Kirkland, and Pforzheimer with Adams—where Pfoho residents were already exempt from restrictions.

—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.