Despite the fabled Yale-Harvard rivalry, most Elis plan to sleep behind enemy lines this Friday night.
Harvard will play host to many of the Yalies migrating to Cambridge for The Game. Residential colleges and a wide range of cultural organizations have contacted equivalent groups at Harvard about housing arrangements for the weekend. Eleven of 15 students interviewed said they plan to stay at Harvard, and five said they found their housing through Yale.
“I’m still Facebook friends with the Harvard students who stayed with me [last year],” said Vanessa Murphy ’12, president of the International Students Organization. “It’s just a nice way to meet someone new.”
So that no student will be left without a place to sleep, each residential college has made housing arrangements with a sister house at Harvard. The houses will hold welcome events for their Yale guests on Friday, and will serve Saturday brunch to those who sleep in their common rooms Friday night.
Overnight plans between colleges and houses do not always work out smoothly. Saybrook College Council President Kate Penziner ’11 emailed her college to warn students that Adams House was “miserably cold” two years ago. Members of the Ezra Stiles College Council sent a message to inform Stilesians that Currier House representatives had stopped responding to their emails about housing, though they added that students could stay with Saybrook or Branford’s sister houses if necessary.
Many Yale organizations, including ISO, the Latin American Student Organization, the Korean-American Students at Yale, the South Asian Society and the Yale Glee Club, have partnered independently with similar Cantab groups to provide housing for their members.
For example, Yale’s international students have been given the option to stay with Harvard’s international students, Murphy said, noting that the ISO housing arrangements are more comfortable and personal than the option provided through the residential colleges.
President of LASO Liz Cui ’12 said LASO has had a partnership with the Harvard Organization for Latin America for the past three years, and HOLA’s members will host LASO in their rooms again this year. She added that shared interests help students from the two organizations bond during their time together, even though students are paired with people they did not know previously.
“We like to stay with Harvard Latin Americans,” Cui said. “We’ve made some really good friends by doing so.”
Although some students think meeting new Harvard hosts is enriching, six Elis interviewed said they would rather stay with Cantabs they already know.
Marisa Karchin ’14, a member of the Yale Glee Club, said that Glee Club members can sign up to stay with members of the Harvard Glee Club, and 24 have chosen to do so. But Karchin said she wanted to stay with a high school friend who goes to Harvard instead.
Peter Humanik ’14 said that he plans to stay with a friend he met while doing summer research at Princeton, who now attends Harvard. He added that he has noticed a lot of “crossover” within the Ivy League.
“I just think from the college previews … you get to know people from Harvard and other Ivy League schools,” he said.
Three students interviewed said they would be spending the weekend with friends from Boston area colleges other than Harvard, including MIT and Boston College. One student said he planned to get a hotel room in Boston with his friends.
Regardless of where they plan to sleep on Friday, all students interviewed said they will attend The Game.
“It will be a great start to Thanksgiving Break,” Karchin said. “I would sooner jump off Harkness Tower than miss the Harvard-Yale Game.”
Student tickets to The Game are $20 and can be purchased at the Yale Athletics Ticket office next to Payne Whitney Gym.