It's war in Harvard Yard, and almost every dorm is in on the battle.

The traditional Thayer-Holworthy rivalry exploded into all-out pandemonium Sunday night as students rampaged through the Yard, screaming obscenities at rival dorms, throwing beer bottles and water balloons out of windows and "releasing tension and energy," in the words of Grays proctor Dwight D. Miller.

"Thayer, drop those gerbils," screamed one crazed student--and the night's conflict began.

At 11 p.m., according to a plan devised by North Yard residents, freshmen living in Holworthy and Thayer began to scream out their windows at each other.

The North Yard has been the traditional site of battle for overworked freshmen since the 19th century, when unthinking architects built Thayer--right on top of Holworthy's polo field.

The Thayer-Holworthy battle moved outside later Sunday night, and the screaming match quickly swept through the entire Yard. Students migrated to the West and South Yard dorms, inciting obscenity-wars between Matthews and Straus, and then Grays and Weld.

By the end of the night, the student-soldiers were swinging baseball bats and mooning onlookers in the windows of Grays and Weld.

Some, though, stuck to more harmless displays of spirit. A group of Weld residents chanted the choruses of "Jingle Bells" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."

One Grays freshman turned on his stereo microphone and broadcast his "ominous voice" to all of the invading Yardsters.

All good fun must come to an end, however--or so thought one South Yard proctor who threatened to sent the author of the "voice" straight to the Ad Board, according to students. But to the proctor's chagrin, his own voice was sent, via the hookup, echoing across the Yard.

The proctor refused comment on the incident.

Despite the animosity that filled the Yard Sunday night, freshmen said that the mob scene only added to class spirit. Students said that dorm rivalries bond entryways, and that the battle of obscenities was just a "good study break."

Not everyone was so enthusiastic about theexcitement.

The Harvard Police sent two officers todisperse the rowdy bunch, and several proctorscame to their assistance as well.

Miller explained that such Yard outbursts occurevery year, and Sunday night's battles, although"a little crude," were of no great concern.

And despite the quiet that once again reignsover Harvard Yard, one freshman warned, "It willcome again....