Order out of chaos

Formal-looking gentlemen — resplendent in ensembles of top hats, bow ties, and Bermuda shorts — shouted barbs at impervious runners, who sported nothing but green Speedos as they took an anticipatory victory lap around Harvard Yard. A determined moose swung a mock punch at a defiant red fish. Taunts and jeers flew fast and furious between mobs of students who trumpeted vuvuzelas, smashed cymbals, and banged cheering sticks together. Welcome to Housing Day at Harvard. Freshmen, who spend their first year on campus in dormitories in Harvard Yard, were each sorted into one of Harvard’s 12 upperclass Houses today. Freshmen are informed of their new House affiliation by impassioned, clamoring representatives from their new House, who gleefully bang on their doors early in the morning to share the good news. As cheers and taunts raged outside, two representatives from each House waited patiently in the basement of University Hall to receive the letters...

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