A dead goldfish lies in a Kirkland door-drop box in one of many ploys carried out in the Interhouse war.

The House war between Mather and Kirkland escalated last week when Kirkland residents awoke to an inexplicable stench permeating their hallways.

The war has now expanded into the Quad, with Cabot House, whose mascot is a fish, supporting Mather House’s claims that Kirkland residents hung dead fish from their own doors last Tuesday.

Kirkland residents blamed Mather House for the fish incident.

“They invested their own money to put dead fish on my door,” said Kirkland resident Jeffrey J. Wu ’05. “It’s the dumbest thing in the world. I’m surprised we accept these people to this college.”

But Mather residents, saying Kirkland residents were responsible for the fish hangings, have denied the allegations.

“We had no part in the posting of the fish. We suspected it was Kirkland themselves,” said Mather Undersecretary of War Paul H. Hersh ’04. “We empathize with the fish. We empathize with Cabot. Their symbol is the fish. For Kirkland to do that is below what we thought they were capable of.”

The day before the fish incident, the Mather House banner conspicuously vanished from the dining hall—an act that some residents have blamed on the war.

“A group called the Kirkland Seven stole our banner,” Mather Secretary of War Hunter A. Maats ’04 said. “Kirkland is harboring terrorists. They’re using an extra-national body to fight for national interests, which is appalling.”

Mather House declared war on Kirkland during Primal Scream, Jan. 20, after concluding that Kirkland House had pilfered the Adams House gong. Mather residents organized their Department of War to combat what they call the “Kirkland brute” and help Adams retreive its gong.

Maats said that Kirkland’s alleged killing of the fish was further evidence that Mather needs to forcibly change Kirkland House behavioral standards.

“The most important aim of war, which will set everything else in place, is a reeducation of Kirkland House,” Maats said. “Mather has no choice but to see this war through to its natural conclusion. It’s about justice.”

For all of Mather’s invective, though, Kirkland residents appear to be in a state of annoyed indifference about the war.

“Everyone in Mather is so into the whole war thing. The attitude around here is more like, ‘Yeah, we’re better than they are,’” said Kirkland House Committee (HoCo) Social Chair David H. Perlmutter ’05.

Maats said Kirkland’s expressed apathy obscured the House’s objectives.

“The issue is not will Kirkland enter war with Mather. Kirkland is at war with Mather. But because of the way they’re going about it, it’s hard for us to show the campus the insidiousness of Kirkland,” Maats said.