Word: river
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...encouraged. The hype surrounding Harvard’s housing lottery is rivaled only by that of Hogwarts’ Sorting Hat. Consider the elaborate pre-Housing Day rituals, which include taking a shot at every coveted house and burning boat sacrifices for the “River Gods.” I’m an atheist, and yet even my freshman self wanted to believe that there was some higher power who was really invested in getting me into Eliot. Granted, not everyone gets the housing assignment they want, but in the end, even the most cynical new Quadling...
With seven of the nine river houses now imposing restrictions of some kind, when you don’t have time to make the 30-minute round trip back to the Quad for a meal, finding a place to eat in a dining hall that doesn’t treat non-residents like criminals can prove difficult. Although HUDS does a great job of making quick meals for students who don’t have time to eat at their dining halls as palatable as possible, no one can argue that Fly-By and bag lunches are an acceptable substitute...
Weekly community dinners, for one thing, are a great idea in principle, as a way to encourage house community without excluding non-residents the rest of the time. However, three of the most popular river houses (Quincy, Leverett and Kirkland) all hold community dinners on Thursdays, so all non-residents who would normally go to these dining halls, as well as residents who want to eat with friends who aren’t residents, must find somewhere else to eat. Spreading these community dinners out over different nights would reduce stress on the remaining dining halls, while still fostering house...
More fundamentally, it may be time for other river houses to follow the example of Adams and Pforzheimer Houses and make exceptions that will allow residents of each of the more inconveniently located houses to dine at a closer one. Welcoming the residents of one other house, especially in the more spacious dining halls, will give residents of farther houses a place to eat without making it impossible for residents to eat in their own dining halls...
...needs to stop ignoring the problems that the current restrictions are creating, and consider stepping in to mandate more reasonable restrictions, if necessary. Harvard’s house system is a great part of campus social life, but we need to make sure that promoting house life in the river houses doesn’t end up leaving others out in the cold...