To the editors:

I was ashamed of the University when I was forwarded The Crimson’s article on the so-called “Harvard State University” party held by students (News, “450 Matriculate at Harvard State Univ.,” Nov. 12). Unless things have changed drastically in the few years I have been absent from campus, it is entirely possible for students to have “coasted through” their time at Harvard—often under the very same aura of self-congratulation that this “HSU” party represents.

Meanwhile, attendees may be shocked to discover, upon graduation, that the very same state school students they have mocked turn out to be more than their equals in learning and intellect. Although, perhaps, that is the point behind such a party: to convince partygoers that, though they may not be the brightest, they are surely the most privileged.

Simon J. DeDeo ’00
Princeton, N.J.
Nov. 12, 2003