How to Find a Party at Hahvahd

The New York Times, Education Life
April 25, 2004
by Marc B. Zawel

Want to learn how to tap a keg or cure a hangover? Such party skills are deconstructed at Hahvahdparties.com, a new Web site that helps students at Harvard plan and publicize their social events.

“Students told us, ‘We don’t know where to party. Where should we go? What should we do?’” explains Zac Corker, a senior who created the site with two classmates, Darren Morris and Paul Hersh.

The idea won the 2003 Harvard Student Agencies Entrepreneurial Contest and has had almost 52,000 visits since it started in September, the founders say. Hahvahdparties.com seeks to replace the fliers of yore by listing scheduled social events; it then follows up with snapshots by roving photographers, which it sells online.

“Everyone likes to see what they missed or can’t remember,” Mr. Hersh says. Toward that end, a section called “Oooh, last night * who was (s)he?” connects partygoers trying to piece together murky weekend memories to the face books of residential houses. It should be noted, however, that the listed parties are not so much raves as organized events like the Purim Costume Party and Freshman Formal.

“There is a problem with the social scene at Harvard,” Mr. Morris says. “We want to make Harvard more like a large state school.”

Not everyone wants Harvard to be more like a state school. In February, the provost’s office demanded the site change its name from the original Harvardparties.com, citing misuse of the Harvard trademark.

On campuses elsewhere, wickedparty.com was started in January 2003 by three undergraduates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It offers similar party news but is aimed at Boston’s 300,000 college students. At the Ivy peer Cornell, thebearweb.com went online in February with party diaries and message boards about weekend activities.

“What’s going on this weekend?” one post asks. “I’m bored.” Proving this is not a science, someone answers: “Nothing at all is going on this weekend from what I have heard, but then again yea someone might know of SOMETHING.”