Committee on Student Life Discusses Party Policy

The Committee on Student Life discussed the party policies in the Houses at a meeting yesterday morning, with students arguing for more consistency in party form policy while administrators resisted, citing natural House variability.

In general, administrators present agreed that all tutors should receive the same party training, but not everyone agreed with a UC proposal that House policies should be changed, citing House architecture as a barrier to uniformity.

A UC handout circulated at yesterday’s meeting said that students resort to less safe, unregistered parties or off-campus parties in lieu of registered parties because there is not enough information given to students and there are disparities between House regulations.

Vice Chair of the UC Student Life Committee Francisco Triana ’13 criticized the requirement that party forms be submitted multiple days in advance. He said that if some students’ plans fall through and they decide they want to have some friends over to their room, they have to fill out a party form, but “having these forms due 3 or 2 days in advance doesn’t allow for that kind of spontaneity.”

House Master John G. “Sean” Palfrey ’67 said that the conversation should go beyond rules on forms. He said there were two levels to this conversation: the definition of a party and “that one of our goals in life is to teach people to party responsibly and safely.”

Palfrey said he believes that Harvard should have a curriculum for party-related topics such as how to throw one and how to drink.

In addition, House Masters present at the meeting agreed that the education of tutors should be uniform across the Houses, though creating that sense of uniformity in party forms poses more of a problem.

“In the past, masters have said that while they liked uniformity, the architecture required them to do things differently,” Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67 said.

While Quincy has a designated party suite, other Houses, such as Kirkland, have parties in different rooms and entryways on weekend nights.

Quincy House Master Deborah J. Gehrke described the third-floor balcony suite in Quincy as a multipurpose party suite where tutors also host study breaks. She said that having this party suite usually worked well.

In Kirkland, on the other hand, there is no specific party suite.

“You can’t have a party in every suite, but you can have more than one party in the same entryway,” said Kirkland House Master Verena A. Conley.

This conversation about party forms and policies will be continued at the new committee established to review and modify the alcohol policy.

—Staff writer Monika L. S. Robbins can be reached at mrobbins@college.harvard.edu.