Semester In Review: Four Things That Made Harvard Awesome in Fall 2013

As the Fall 2013 semester draws to a close, Flyby reflects on four of the many things that made it a great one.

Donald Pfister as Interim Dean of Harvard College
You know you love this fungi enthusiast, who just so happens to be a veritable genius when it comes to crafting the perfect email update to blast out to undergrads (See Exhibits A, B, C, and D). Interim Dean of the College Donald H. Pfister has proven to us not only that botany can somehow relate to any and all events here at Harvard, but that we, too, are capable of writing about just about anything if we create an abstract enough metaphor. Finally, let's not forget that time we looked like we could use a cupcake, and Pfister delivered.

#Winning – Harvard Beats Yale (again)
With our seventh consecutive domination at The Game (and 12 W’s in the past 13 years), some are wondering why Yale even has a football team anymore. But Harvard’s 2013 win extends beyond football—we also proved our academic prowess this fall. Just look at our Rhodes Scholars: six Harvard students won Rhodes Scholarships, compared to three Yalies—three! Out of 32 scholars! That’s not even a tenth!

If all that isn't enough to convince you, check out Flyby's guide to Harvard's superiority. And we haven’t even started talking about fungus yet (see: Pfister, Exhibit D).

He wasn’t interrupting anyone this time – Kanye speaks at the Graduate School of Design
Alright, so the speech didn’t even last ten minutes. But let’s be honest, who knows architecture better than this mediocre rapper/Kardashian baby daddy? Kanye made some deeply inspirational points, including his belief “that utopia is actually possible” (there’s more to that quote, but it didn’t really make a sentence). He even had a rare moment of humility upon admitting the flaws in the stage design for his performance at TD Garden later that evening, though we can’t judge him too harshly on these imperfections—we all know, after all, that a stage is “an expression of emotion.” And we'll always remember Kanye’s Oprah Moment. We’re not sure if he actually said the words “look under your seats,” but we do know he gave a way a ton of free concert tickets.

In all seriousness, though, Kanye and Kim’s campus appearance was a major swag boost for Harvard, and raised some much-needed awareness for the GSD.

Harvard learns how to laugh – the “Joke Ticket” takes the win in 2013 UC elections
No one was ever 100 percent sure how serious these two campus comedians were about running for Undergraduate Council, but apparently a plurality of voters figured they were serious enough to vote for. Yes, the toilet paper enthusiasts’ #tombasrav platform attracted significant criticism. But it also made for a witty Facebook page (and a great Flyby interview) that addressed issues like what constitutes an attainable goal and why there’s such a stark UC/student disconnect, all while maintaining a relatively decent entertainment value. The elections themselves proved that this honesty-underneath-a-veil-of-humor is the secret to winning a UC campaign. Bonus: now we get tomato basil ravioli soup every Thursday. Coincidence? The world may never know.