“You’ll find I may not be quite the Jon Belushi character you imagine,” claims Zachary A. Corker ’04, the notorious party impresario of Mather Lather fame.

Along with his associates Paul A. Hersh ’04 and Darren S. Morris ’05, Corker threw last spring’s foam-filled Mather House dance, which earned a spot in Harvard lore when a few hundred uninvited guests caused it to go out with a bang.

The trio also started Hahvahdparties.com, the party-listings website that has made it considerably more difficult for the hard-studying to blame their lack of hard-partying on a hostile Harvard social scene.

But despite this fun-filled resume, Corker’s self-assessment is on target.

He is not the stereotypical frat boy trying to recreate his natural environment at frigid Harvard. Rather, it turns out that Corker’s attempts to improve the College’s social scene are motivated by a scholar-like devotion to the subject of “The Harvard Party.”

Corker, a History concentrator, says that his interest in Harvard’s past greatly influenced the philosophy behind what he does.

“Randomization killed House spirit,” disgustedly explains Corker, referring to the blocking group system instituted in 1996. Before that policy change, students were allowed more choice in the upperclass housing assignment process and the Houses were each known for having a particular character.

Corker wrote his junior tutorial paper about House dining halls pre-randomization.

“I understand why [the administration] did it, but they did nothing to replace it,” he says. “People used to leave here having so much love for the school, which isn’t true anymore.”

Finding himself in search of a new activity his junior year, after having quit the football team, Corker set out to revive House spirit in Mather by applying lessons from the House’s own past: as co-head of Mather House Council (HoCo) in 2003, his mantra was to make Mather regain its bygone reputation as the Party House, or, as Corker likes to put it, “the House that beer built.”

Corker’s effect was dramatic, according to Mather House Master Sandra Naddaff.

“Zac, under his leadership, [HoCo] really inspired the House with their enthusiasm,” she says. “In practical terms there were simply many more House events, more study breaks. Stein Club became a much more regular event…And, though the Mather Lather was less successful, it really did bring the House together in a startling way.”

Since Corker’s intervention, Mather House has gone from the place where “freshmen would cry when they found out they were placed in Mather,” to a coveted lottery pick that left them “so excited,” according to House tutor and 2003 HoCo liaison Nava Ashraf.

“It’s just a tighter House now,” says Hersh. “For me, it makes it worth all the time that I put in [on HoCo].”

Even after their term with HoCo expired this winter, improving House spirit remained paramount for Corker and his friends. Leaving the world of study break preparation behind, they upped the stakes, throwing themselves in the line of fire for the sake of good old-fashioned House enthusiasm.