HAAAR-vard…

HAAAR-vard…

YOU SUCK!

Does that chant offend you?

Does it feel like a slap in the face?

Does it make you mad that, in your very own newspaper, someone is making fun of your school?

Chances are, you probably could care less what someone says about Harvard. In fact, in many ways, you probably even agree with the statement.

The proof of this is everywhere you go. Whether you’re strolling through the Yard, eating in your dining hall, or sitting in class, someone is probably loudly proclaiming that Harvard does indeed suck.

The preferred method of belittling the oldest academic institution in America? Clothing. That’s right. Everywhere on campus, there are students sporting hoodies and shirts from Princeton, UPenn, Stanford, and even—most despicably of all—Yale.

So what, you might say. Those people still obviously go to Harvard.

So what? SO WHAT? Are you kidding me? This extreme level of apathy towards rival schools seems to be unique to the Cantabridgian Crimson.

Don’t believe me? Let’s do a case study.

As with all good case studies, it’s best to control for confounding factors. So I decided to examine the views of identical twins on the subject. These twins, having grown up in the same house, same town, and same community, should have similar levels of apathy—even if one goes to Harvard and the other goes to Yale.

Here’s the question: What would you do if someone sitting next to you were wearing a Yale sweatshirt?

“Nothing,” says Ross Lipstein ’08. “I wouldn’t even notice.”