Word: socializes
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Boston has been a social leech of Harvard College...when the supply of eligible young men in Boston was decreased by the westward movement, the Boston mammas suddenly became aware that Harvard contained many appetizing young gentlemen from New York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere...In vain are freshmen tossed onto the same heap; freshman fellowship, brisk enough in the opening days of College and the first elections of committees, blows away in a whiff of invitations to dances and week-end house parties. The social cleaver widened the chasm that a mistaken laissez-faire created between Yard and Gold Coast...
Throughout its history, Harvard College has suffered the effects of a "social cleaver." In the mid-eighteenth century the college president personally listed students, when they enrolled, in order of their social rank or, to be precise, "to the Dignity of the Familie whereto the students severally belonged." The social list was printed in the college catalogue for all to see. The creme de la creme were placed at the top, followed by the social outcasts who attended Harvard because of academic merit. The social list determined precedence in table seating and service during meals, position in academic processionals...
This institutionalized method of social rank was soon terminated, not because it was deemed undemocratic, but because too many angry parents harrassed the president for not rating their sons high enough. Nevertheless, new lists emerged and even without the "official list" the Gold Coast was still shining in the distance, a glowing reminder of the best things in life...
Living in the Yard was not the only punishment for poverty and social shortcomings. Subsequent presidents maintained an unofficial roster of the elite students and lists were used in many of the University clubs--especially the exclusive final clubs: the dictators of social success at Harvard. The Institute of 1770, which joined with the Hasty Pudding Club in 1926, began the social filtering at the beginning of sophomore year. The Institute chose the college's 100 most socially promising students and then ranked them in groups of 10, from the ultraprivileged to the "barely-elite." Local newspapers would publish...
This system passively supported the continuation of the Harvard caste system. Even though the Houses were somewhat diverse, the intense social polarization of the Gold Coast remained...