Radcliffe Quad dorms are all coed and multi-class.
Incidentally, in case you're wondering about hours, visitors, etc., parietals went out with Lyndon Johnson. What ever goes on behind your doors is your business, (except maybe for some snooping neighbors.) No one supervises who goes in or out of your room.
Each dorm will develop its own personality and reputation. Dorm rivalries usually start with traditional cries of "Holworthy sucks" and end with a couple of water balloon fights, mob scenes and a moderate form of chaos on some warm October night when there's nothing better to do.
One word about the Union, the building where Yard freshmen will be eating most meals. The large resounding dining rooms with dark wood panelling, row upon row of long oak tables and antleer chandeliers, (yea, no joke, a Teddy Roosevelt '84, donation), will quickly become the social focal point of the class of '78. Friendships will be struck, romances started, food fights will erupt, political conspiracies argued, gossip will be gleaned and scholarly one-upmanship will be victorious over what must be the world's worst coffee. Dramatic social conflicts of whom to acknowledge, glance at, ignore completely or sit with occur every minute in the often zoo-like dining room.
Upstairs at the Union (sounds like name for a preppie bar) there's a room full of ping-pong tables, ppool tables and pinball machines ready to eat up quarters and time. Many otherwise rational and intelligent men and women of Harvard have succumbed to the addiction of the shiny steel balls--a manifestation of some repressed sexual desires?
About a quarter of the class will live at the Radcliffe Quad. Unlike the Yard, the Quad houses upperclassmen who tend to create a sedating effect. All the Quad dorms have double and single rooms leading onto long corridors. This makes Radcliffe one of the few places at Harvard you'll find "typical" dorm atmosphere in contrast to the apartment building type isolationism you get from suites in the Yard or upperclass River Houses.
The Quad is more politically active and socially conscious than the Yard. Feminism remains strong, speakers, discussion groups and meetings are held frequently. The Quad is the only place in the University where a 50-50 male-female ratio predominates. In an institution which has been a male bastion for centuries the preservation of such an arrangement serves as a reminder that women are not a minority.
The walk from the Quad to the Yard takes about 10 minutes which gives Quad residents a feeling of living slightly apart and being able to escape from the pervasive Crimson cover. One North house junior described the walk back "like coming home from school."
The going gets tough long about December. Both Quad and Yard residents will be dulled observing the transformation from luscious green to somber gray. It's about this time when many of you will start wondering, "Why didn't I go to Stanford?" But the joys of your first reading period alleviate any doubts in your mind: you should have gone to Stanford.