‘Scarier Than College Admissions’: Freshmen Celebrate Annual Housing Day Tradition

When Simon Farruqui ’29 opened his dorm door Friday morning, he was greeted by “a fish the size of my head.”

“I realized that there’s only one thing that meant, and that was Cabot,” Farruqui said. “I opened up the window, took the shield out, and then tried to rip the largest hole that I could, to jump through that hole.”

His blockmate grabbed Farruqui’s shirt to prevent him from exiting the second-story Mower window. When asked how he felt about his housing assignment, Farruqui answered simply.

“Bad,” he said.

Each year on Housing Day, freshmen are randomly assigned to one of the College’s 12 upperclassmen Houses. At around 8:30 a.m. in the morning, students from each House — armed with House merchandise, chants, and signs — dorm-storm freshmen to inform them where they will live for the next three years.

Many freshmen began their celebrations Thursday night. During an annual tradition known as “River Run,” freshmen visit the nine River Houses, with some taking a shot of alcohol at each House in hopes of avoiding being sorted into one of three Houses in the Radcliffe Quadrangle.

“It started to rain, which was not great,” Ruby F. Holt ’29 said. “Our clothes are still wet.”

But Freddy Yu ’29, who was assigned to Leverett House, considered the rain a good luck charm.

“The River gods blessed us with the rain,” Yu said.

Some freshmen said they were unaware of House-specific swipe restrictions and ended up stranded in House common spaces, such as the Dunster House courtyard, which limits non-residents’ swipe access.

“We couldn’t get out of the Dunster gates,” Emma Zhang ’29 said. “We were shouting at people in the street.”

Zhang said she was able to re-enter Dunster House when a different group of freshmen wandered into the courtyard.

“And then they got stuck out there,” she said. “We just let them get stuck.”

In a statement after this article’s publication, Zhang wrote that she left Dunster with the other group of freshmen.

Dean of Students Thomas G. Dunne said in a Friday interview that the College did not adjust swipe access for River Run this year, adding that restrictions vary across Houses and within different areas of each House.

Shahmeer Baqir ’29 said he was simply “glad I survived River Run.”

“I got to Mather, and then I don’t remember what happened,” Baqir said. “I entered Mather with an umbrella, and I left without it.”

The next morning, as Baqir waited in his dorm for his housing assignment, he worried that he would be assigned to Currier House.

“They were chanting ‘Tree House’ outside my room,” Baqir said. “There was a solid thirty seconds where I was doing the most coping I’ve ever done in my life. Then I got this beautiful, big-ass concrete tower as my House.”

Baqir, who will live in Mather House next year, was one of several freshmen pranked by upperclassmen, who often use the chants of Quad Houses to mislead freshmen before entering their dorms.

Sean Yu ’29 called the process “scarier than college admissions.”

“You know you’re gonna get something, but you don’t know which one,” Yu said.

Timmy Tran ’29 said he felt “so excited” to see upperclassmen from Lowell House at his door.

“We were so happy,” he said. “We were actively on the floor. I dropped down to my knees.”

Tran added that he enjoyed watching upperclassmen flaunt their House pride.

“That’s what I love about the housing system in general,” he said. “It creates that smaller community that allows you to really embrace that pride and embrace your spirit.”

Many freshmen said Housing Day has been their favorite tradition at Harvard.

“It’s great to have a smaller community within Harvard because it really makes you feel like you found your people,” Annelise K. Paczesny ’29 said.

“Everyone’s so happy to see where everyone else got to,” Madison Walia-Peters ’29 said. “I just love how everyone jumped up and cheered for everyone else. There’s just such positivity.”

Paczesny and Walia-Peters said that they had already begun to embrace Winthrop House, their future residence.

“The second we got our House, we immediately began defending it like no other,” Paczesny said. “It’s that serious.”

—Staff writer Wyeth Renwick can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @wzrenwick.