Hasty Pudding Clubs To Merge Into Single Entity

The Hasty Pudding Club, Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and the Krokodiloes have merged into a single entity known as The Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770, Andrew L. Farkas ’82 announced to members of the three groups at a meeting Monday evening in Farkas Hall.

Both the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and the Krokodiloes a capella group were founded at the headquarters of the Hasty Pudding Club, a social organization established in 1770. The new conglomerate will now extend Club membership to individuals in both groups.

The restructuring will place these three organizations under a single governing body. The new umbrella organization will be directed by Farkas, a former president of the Hasty Pudding Club, and two other alumni.

Members of the graduate advisory board of the Hasty Pudding Club and Hasty Pudding Theatricals also announced the change in a letter to alumni of all three groups. In the letter, the board wrote that the intention was to expand the Pudding’s activities to create a tight-knit community of graduates and undergraduates.

“We stand poised now to pursue a renaissance of our shared traditions, and to extend the Pudding’s recognition to new and exciting heights,” the letter read.

According to those who attended Monday’s meeting, Farkas said the move also signified a testament to the clubs’ history together and a desire to combine their social and theatrical causes.

Members of the new Institute said they are generally optimistic about the change and are looking forward to unifying the groups.

“There will be a lot of new faces, but we’re very excited about it,” said Ian T. Hassett ’15, a member of the social club.

“We all have the same mindset and spirit.”

Students also welcomed the increased level of interaction that will now occur between the three groups.

“I think this is an exciting opportunity to meet new people, both undergraduates and alumni,” said McKenna E. Kardish ’15, a member of the social club.

“We will be able to broaden our horizon and be more inclusive and open as a club.”

Though the groups now fall under the same umbrella organization, Justin S. Pereira ’13, a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, said he is not worried about any one group losing its sense of identity.

“Their individual identities will be kept intact just given that we all do different things,” Pereira said, adding that the change will actually connect the groups back to their roots.

Members of the Krokodiloes declined to comment.

Recently, the Pudding social club began renovating its space on 2 Garden Street and hired a full-time steward to keep the club in order, according to a set of club rules emailed to members of the Institute by the presidents of all three organizations. The rules for the club will also apply to members of the Theatricals and the Krokodiloes, who now have a say in which students are admitted into the Pudding social organization.

A donation to Harvard made by Farkas last year led to the re-naming of the New College Theatre, now called Farkas Hall. Farkas mandated that the lobby, which has remained unchanged since its erection in 1888, would be known as the “Hasty Pudding Lobby” and serve as a museum space for memorabilia of all three groups.

—Staff writer Melanie A. Guzman can be reached at melanieguzman@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Jane Seo can be reached at janeseo@college.harvard.edu.