"People are really apathetic in general," says Harvard Band Manager Anne Q. Eakin '95. "It's really frustrating to feel like the band members are the only ones cheering."

Harvard students are likely to be found in the libraries on a Saturday afternoon, rather than at the stadium, students say.

"People are too obsessed with their work to think of much else," Aimee K. Gallardo '98 says.

Epps agrees.

"Harvard students are very busy and often take the school for granted," the dean says.

The problem may be the type of person that goes to Harvard, Bruce says.

"A lot of people at Harvard now probably weren't the type of people who got hyped up for high school pep rallies," he says. "They were busy making discoveries in labs and being valedictorians."

Fragmentation

Some cite the University's self-styled hallmark, diversity, as an indirect cause of the lack of a unified school spirit.

"One of the major drawbacks of having such a diverse student body is people simply have different interests," says Undergraduate Council President David L. Hanselman '94-'95.

Although he does not see diversity as a cause for the presence or lack of spirit, Epps acknowledges that the diversity of student interests and identity has led to a "lack of common experience" at the College.

"As Harvard's gotten more diverse, people have gotten away from the rah-rah school spirit," says Band Drum Master Duane A. Stewart III '95.

Indeed, when Jewett saw the overflowing crowds in the 1950s, Harvard was far from the mosaic it is today.

Now, however, students are segregated into different houses and many separate activities, hurting the College's former cohesiveness.

"Spirit is diffused more because there are so many different things going on," Jewett says.