According to Jellis, the Champagne Brunch beganeight to 10 years ago as an effort by the HAA toenable seniors to get to know the organizationbetter before they graduated.

"The first year, an invitation was sent out tohave wine and cheese parties at every House,"Jellis says.

Now the Champagne Brunch has evolved into aclass trip to Annenberg Hall, the dining hall forall first-years.

Jellis, who has been at Harvard for over 30years, says she does not consider many of thesenewly-organized events to be traditions.

"They are evolving. They are notinstitutionalized," she says. "The Cruise isdefinitely a tradition and things like thesweatshirt sale are becoming traditions--inexistence for 10 to 12 years--but the Stumble andthe talent show--I wouldn't mind if they weredropped," Jellis says.

Although many of the events like the ChampagneBrunch are essentially the same from year to year,class marshals make modifications to fit thepersonality of their class. This year includedseveral new events.

One event unique to the class of 1998 was the"Kickoff at the Kong,"--a celebration at the HongKong, the popular Chinese restaurant in theSquare, on the 98th day before graduation--whichmarked the beginning of a long chain of events forthis year's seniors.

Other events were held on that day, Feb. 26, tohelp generate class spirit. "We set up a tableoutside of Widener and gave away t-shirts," Mishrasays.

Another event new to this class is "The RealClass of 1998," a play produced by a blockinggroup of seniors in Leverett House. Originally puton their first year, all five performances of theshow--held in the Leverett Old Library--sold outthis year.

For and Against Tradition

But for some seniors, following in the samewobbly footsteps of seniors from years past in theSenior Stumble or other events is not as importantas spending time on their own with close friends.

"There are a lot of other `institutions' atHarvard whose histories are much more meaningfulthan the Booze [Moonlight] Cruise," says David M.Marcus '98.

"It's hard to comprehend leaving [my friends]basically forever in two weeks after four yearstogether, and so I want to maximize my time withthem," Marcus says.

"We've been hanging out more and more thissemester, a trend that reflects our growingwistfulness at our imminent departure," he says.

But others like G. Stuart Mendenhall '98believe traditions help to tie friends togetherand create class spirit.