Energetic new dining hall management has revived the torpid presentation of provisions, say Snow and other students.
"There is a universal impression that the dining hall has been vastly improved in the last two years," concurrs tutor Douglass Pinkard.
Meals often provide the only time when students from the towers associate with their housemates in McKinlock, "old" Leverett. "A lot of people hang out in the [Leverett] Grille, and it's a very relaxed place to get to know people," says Josephine S. Navarro '94. "But it's kind of far for non-tower people to trek."
Despite the physical separation, Leverett inhabitants comment on the easy going unity which prospers in the stereotype-free house.
"We have so many different kinds of people that it's easy to find a niche," says Pinkard. "It seems like students feel comfortable with each other--they all just want to be one of the gang."
This year, Leverett has become famous as the home of Harvard celebrities: Olympic hockey player Ted Drury '93-'94 and Karenna Gore '95, daughter of Vice President Al Gore '69.
Have the presence of Harvard's cultural elite made a mark among Leverett's amateur jocks?
"Not at all," says Harvey. "We don't have people grandstanding here, immersed in their own senses of importance."
Especially in the vast towers, which some students revere for their views of the river. "If you live in the towers, you also don't have to look at them," says Snow.
The cement block towers inspire much dismay among those who revere refinement, say residents. "Being an architect, I'm very glad I live in old," says Kohn. "Nonetheless, anywhere in Leverett is a fun place to live."