Your House Will Be Your Home

It’s a Thursday night, and I’m in the Yard. It’s not too late, but just late enough for the shuttles to the Quad to be few and far between. I’m facing a dilemma that almost every Quadling grapples with daily: Do I wait for the next shuttle, or brave the weather and make the walk?

To me, there’s no wrong decision. The walk gives me time to physically and mentally distance myself from the busyness of campus. The shuttle ride provides a similar opportunity, along with the increased chance of bumping into a friend. For these reasons, I absolutely love the journey to the Quad. This trek and the slight seclusion it creates make my home, Pforzheimer House, one of my favorite places on campus.

No, this isn’t an advertisement for the Quad or Pforzheimer House — it is a message of appreciation for the randomness of our current housing system.

Every spring, each Harvard freshman and up to seven of their friends are randomly sorted into one of the 12 upperclassmen Houses. This process has been carefully adjusted throughout the College’s existence. From the creation of the Houses in the 1930s all the way until 1995, housing assignments were preference-based, causing each House to develop a distinct reputation and attract students of similar backgrounds. The House populations were largely homogenous: the Quad housed Black and Latino students, Eliot had the wealthier, preppy students, and Kirkland served as home for the athletes.

In 1995, randomization was introduced to the housing system, breaking the tradition of self-segregation engendered by preference-based housing. Decades later, we continue to rely on random assignment, but this system has recently been criticized. In a 2021 survey conducted by the Undergraduate Council, some students voiced renewed interest in listing House preferences or characteristics of their desired House.

History cautions against reverting back to a preference-based housing system. Previously, the strong reputation of each House threatened to reduce students to a single aspect of their identity. The sequestration of students based on their identity also fractured the broader Harvard community. Today, the more well-balanced mixture within each House increases exposure to students of different backgrounds and helps to mitigate some of the social barriers faced by students belonging to marginalized groups.

As a first generation, low-income student, I feel very fortunate for the opportunities presented by House life. Knowing that my House affiliation is not determined by my income or non-legacy status is comforting, and spending time with a variety of people has also helped me receive the social education that I sought when I applied to Harvard. If given the chance to surround myself with students from the same background, I am not entirely sure that I would have engaged with such a wide range of people.

This brings me to my favorite aspect of randomized housing: It challenges you to learn to love your House and its community.

In addition to the difficulty of abandoning my comfort zone and connecting with different people, a process which I have grown to appreciate, there are many other parts of Pforzheimer that it has taken time for me to love. I did not always love the Quad journey – what is now a meditative reprieve from my day initially frustrated me. I did not always love the horrendously slow elevator in the Comstock dorms, and I’m still learning to love the unreliable dryer that somehow always draws me back despite requiring multiple cycles to dry my clothes.

I can now say that I believe Pforzheimer House is, without a doubt, the best House you could have the privilege of being assigned. But, at the same time, I am certain that the House you find yourself in is the best for you.

To rising sophomores, even though you might wait with bated breath, desperately hoping for a particular House, you will love wherever you end up. You will accept the overly-friendly vermin, perpetually dirty hallway bathroom, time-consuming walk, or whatever other superficially annoying fixture you encounter. Regardless of the House and community you randomly become a part of, your House will undoubtedly become your home.

Libby E. Tseng ’24, a Crimson Editorial Comp Director, lives in Pforzheimer House.