Harvard Explained

Last week, while Snoop fell through and Summers apologized one more time, Matthew C. Dewitz ’05 was busy debunking a rumor all his own. Are we really limited to 99 dining hall swipes per week?

Dewitz had to know, so starting last Sunday, he traveled to all 12 dining halls, hitting up as many as 10 houses per meal in what he christened “Swipefest,” his quest for 100 swipes. To track his progress, Dewitz created a website with his color-coded schedule—people.fas.harvard.edu/~dewitz—and a journal describing his exploits.

Some of Dewitz’s gastronomical highlights over the week included tilapia with mango salsa (“crisp, refreshing, and very tasty”), Leverett’s grilled chicken (“superbly spiced and prepared”), coconut rice (“I’ve always liked toasted coconut”), and a Granny Smith apple (“since [a friend] recommended it two days ago”).

Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m., accompanied by an entourage of almost 20 supporters and one reporter, Dewitz swiped for the hundredth time (and 101st, just for kicks). Though the machine did not explode, it did emit a congratulatory beep. Meanwhile, as supporters chanted “Swipe! Swipe!” over and over, the Kirkland House swiper folded her arms.

“I felt like a rock star,” Dewitz wrote in an e-mail. “But instead of a guitar and a song, I had a swipe card.”

Though Dewitz started and ended the week in Kirkland, where he lives, during the course of his quest he became partial to some other dining halls. “Dunster is a hidden gem,” he said. “I feel like I had something quite excellent there, but I don’t remember what it was.”

His experience in Adams was slightly more awkward. “Some strange kid I didn’t know sat down right across the table from me, looked at me, and then never said anything for the rest of the meal.”

Other notable excerpts from his dining hall diary:

Sunday, April 24th:

“9:21pm - Lowell - Carrie was there! Lots of funny stories. Ate half a sesame-seed bagel with cc. Water. More people now, but mostly quiet. Atmosphere: that crazy kid in a kimono still getting ice.”

Monday, April 25th:

“9:43pm - Leverett - apple. The ‘Hare Today’ House newsletter on the table discusses hairy stones, the Golden Girls, a Czech jailbird with priapism, and the Masters’ monkeybread.”

Friday, April 29th:

“7:04pm - Cabot - water.”