Harvard’s Abstinence-Only Approach to Fun

Harvard boasts many attractions for hopeful applicants: groundbreaking research, personalized teaching, and, if we may say so ourselves, a talented student body.

But recent reporting by The Crimson has publicized an open secret among students: For all of our University’s strengths, Harvard is hardly fun.

The culprits behind our paucity of parties don’t sit next to us in classrooms; instead, they’re staring down at us from University Hall. The Harvard administration’s apparent abstinence-only approach to fun corrodes campus social culture.

The Dean of Students’ Office has restricted tailgates during the biggest football game of the year, and provides strict guidelines on how parties must be registered, what drinks can be consumed at them, and even how they may be advertised. Just in case students are having fun, proctors are authorized to unilaterally shut down first year social functions.

In essence, the DSO seems to believe that the secret ingredients to campus fun are the watchful eyes of college administrators.

Predictably, these restrictive policies do not make parties more safe, they simply shepherd us to greener pastures at MIT fraternities, final clubs, or other off-campus events – settings far-removed from campus safety resources.

Instead of naïvely assuming that all student fun takes place within the confines of university bureaucracy, Harvard must explore other pathways to keeping students safe.

Our University should shift away from its de facto party prohibition — an ultimately unachievable goal — towards harm reduction. In practice, that might involve expanding the availability of water in student housing, or holding alcohol-safety training in-person rather than via online modules that can be easily passed without paying full attention.

A more well-reasoned approach would also nurture a healthy social culture from the moment students step foot through Johnston Gate. If Harvard tolerates first-year debauchery while instituting harm-reducing guidance, students will be well-equipped to drink and party responsibly. A social scene cultivated especially for freshmen might also steady concerns about overcrowding in upperclassmen events.

Finally, House parties should return to the center of Harvard’s social life.

To accomplish this and revitalize underutilized venues in the houses, Harvard must take a step back. House administrators should slash red tape that limits when and where events can occur, instead turning their focus to mitigating the harms of excessive imbibement.

Our dorms already house state-of-the-art party infrastructure. All that’s missing are the parties.

Students have plenty of time to pursue presidencies and Nobel Prizes. For now, we hope the administration lets us enjoy our young adulthood.

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

Have a suggestion, question, or concern for The Crimson Editorial Board? Click here.