Spirit Week Horrors

To the editors:

The day when all students and faculty members would have to wear pajamas to class to feel proud of Harvard University has arrived (News, March 14). The implementation of randomization against the wishes of 82 percent of students led many to predict the homogenization of student culture and the proliferation of 80's dances, but never in our worst nightmares did we imagine Pajama Day.

Janet E. Rosenbaum '98

Sommerville, Mass.

March 14, 2000

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No More Secrets

To the editors:

The existence of Spirit Week was a secret well-kept by the Undergraduate Council, but in a stellar exhibition of investigative reporting, The Crimson uncovered the council's clandestine plans (News, March 14). Now I know why I saw a girl in the Science Center on Monday wearing pajamas, though at the time I didn't think much of it or wonder why. I had just nonchalantly assumed she was a first-year rolling out of her bed in Canaday, or that she was being initiated onto a sport team. But thanks to The Crimson's expose, I now know that she must have been one of the insiders of the exclusive Spirit Week.

How am I supposed to find out that things like Spirit Week exist? Where do I look to find such announcements? Do I need to put a wire-tap on council members' phones?

You see, I have all of this repressed Harvard spirit welling up inside of me and crying out to the council for a public outlet. Apparently, not getting dressed on Monday would have been perfect for this, but since the council kept its pajama-wearing fun to itself, that leaves me no choice but to go out and get a tattoo of the Harvard shield on my butt as a reciprocal act of secret spirit.

Jordanna P. Schutz '02

March 14, 2000

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Dance Will Be Fun

To the editors:

I am writing to sort out a few confusions over Spirit Week and the St. Patrick's Day Dance organized by the Undergraduate Council. In "Spirit Week Suffers Low Turnout" (News, March 14) Student Affairs Committee chair Michael D. Shumsky '00 is quoted as saying that he did not see anyone passing out handbills in front of the Science Center on Monday. But a photo on the third page depicted me and Stephen N. Smith '02 passing out flyers for the dance and Spirit Week by the Science Center. We also spent time passing out flyers in front of Sever Hall.

Shumsky is quoted as saying that "nobody on this campus wants to go to a [council] dance" that is in the Quad and dry. But the great majority of dances at this school are "dry," and we all know that those who want to drink do so before the dances anyway. Plus, the Quad is home to several thousand Harvard students and dances there are usually filled to capacity.

Finally, there are many reasons why this dance will be a success: It is the only major dance event on campus this Saturday (10 p.m. in Pforzheimer House), it is the only major St. Patrick's Day event, and it has one of the best D.J.'s in town.

Vladimir A. Kleyman '02

March 14, 2000

The writer, an Undergraduate Council representative, is the coordinator of Spirit Week and the St. Patrick's Day Dance.