Other students complained that the Harvard Clubof Boston was given reservations on 500 tickets,given that the University already threw the alumnia party.
Organizers said that they did not considerthrowing a bigger but less formal event becausethey wanted something significant. "We wanted tohave something extra special and dress up becausethe 350th comes along only once," said Coletta.
The logistical preparations for the event havetaken Coletta the summer. But what organizers didnot count on was a run in with the BusinessSchool.
Organizers of that school's 25th reunioncelebration had reserved Memorial Hall three yearsago, and plans were underway to have the about 800participants stroll through the Yard on their wayfrom the Charles Hotel to Memorial Hall. But nowthe B-School must bus the celebrants from one siteto another, sources said, to avoid throngs ofundergraduates in the Yard.
While student eyes are on the much-publicizedball, administrators and organizers are touting asthe real crux of the celebration the more intimatehouse dinners and symposia.
Students at some houses are lucky enough tohave dinners with the pugnacious author NormanMailer '43, famed cellist Yo Yo Ma '76 orworld-famous composer Leonard Bernstein '39.
"I feel lucky," said Dunster House ChairmanFernando R. Laguarda '88, who will attend a dinnerwith Mailer.
But fame and fortune eluded some houses.
At Kirkland House, a next-door neighbor--EliotHouse Master Alan E. Heimert '49--plans to walkover for dinner.
Lowell House residents will get a video screenfor a presentation of a film on Harvard as well asthe recorded reminiscences of late Master ElliottPerkins. Mather House will hear a speech by formerDean of the Faculty Henry Rosovsky, while AdamsHouse will enjoy performances by current and pasthouse tutors.
"I understand there are discrepancies," saidMatthews, who was on the steering committee andhelped coordinate the house activities. "There arediscrepancies in who famous graduates from eachhouse."
"The whole idea is one that we're to exposestudents to the many things that Harvardproduces," Matthews said, pointing to Currierguest Julia Agoos '79 as an "up and coming" poet.
Masters said ideally they would have liked moretime to discuss and plan house events with theirrespective house committees. And some studentssaid they wished the College had not gone just tohouse committee chairmen, but to the undergraduatepopulation at large, with its invitation to takepart in the planning.
But Epps said he has been throwing around theidea of an undergraduate celebration for about ayear, and that, at least initially, there was"only a trickle of interest."
He said he began serious consultations withhouse committee chairmen, house masters,administrators and the student-faculty Committeeon College Life last spring. At that time, Eppsformed a committee of