Cabot House

Harvard House Infobox
name = Cabot House
university = Harvard College
shield =
picture =
colours =
college_name = Thomas and Virginia Cabot House
name_Latin = Domus Capoceus
motto = Tres Pisces—Cor Unum
translation = Three Fish—One Heart
named_for = Thomas and Virginia Cabot
previous_names = South House, East House
established = 1901
sister_college = Trumbull College
freshman_dorm = Wigglesworth Hall
master = House Master
master_name = Jay and Cheryl Harris
ResidentDean = Stephen Kargère
HoCoChair = Tom Benson '09 and Colin Flood '09
undergraduates = 358
called = Cabotoix, Cabotians, Caboteers
restutors = 18
location = 60 Linnaean Street
homepage = http://www.cabot.harvard.edu

Cabot House is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University. Cabot House derives from the merger in 1970 of South and East House, which took the name South House (also known as "SoHo"), until the name was changed and the House reincorporated in 1984 to honor Harvard benefactors Thomas Cabot and Virginia Cabot. [ [http://cabot.harvard.edu/AboutTheHouse/History.shtml Cabot House Webpage: House History ] ] The house is composed of six buildings surrounding Radcliffe Quadrangle; in order of construction, they are Bertram Hall (1901), Eliot Hall (1906), Whitman Hall (1911), Barnard Hall (1912), Briggs Hall (1923), and Cabot Hall (1937). All six of these structures were originally women-only Radcliffe College dormitories until they were integrated in 1970. Along with Currier House and Pforzheimer House, Cabot is part of the Quad.

The current Masters of Cabot House are Jay Harris and his wife Cheryl. Prior Masters include then-Radcliffe President Mary Bunting and "New Republic" publisher Martin Peretz. [ [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=104514 The Harvard Crimson :: News :: Timeline: 1972-1976 ] ]

Famous alumni include Benazir Bhutto, Stockard Channing, Lindsay Crouse, Rivers Cuomo, Greg Daniels, Jim Koch, Ellen Goodman, Soledad O'Brien, Bonnie Raitt, Mira Sorvino, Nichele McClendon, Jeffrey Sachs, former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healy and Edward Zwick.

History

The Great Experiment

In 1970, Harvard began to experiment with co-educational housing. 150 men from the River (including former Dean of Harvard College Benedict Gross) switched places with 150 women from the Radcliffe Quadrangle. Ten years later the experiment was taken to its logical conclusion, as the last all-male dorm, Straus Hall in Harvard Yard, went co-ed. Today, all Harvard dormitories, including the three Houses of the Quadrangle, house both men and women.

The Birth of Cabot House

Beginning before the change to co-education, Radcliffe began to organize the brick buildings of the Radcliffe Quad into residential colleges in the style of Harvard. These Houses were styled North, South, and East, in reference to the cardinal directions of the building clusters.

Cabot House was formed in 1970 when East and South House were merged. Anna Maria Abernathy held the title of Head of House, and she and her husband Fred served as Cabot’s first House Masters. In 1971, Mary Bunting, President of Radcliffe, began her tenure as House Master.

Bertram Hall, Radcliffe’s first permanent dormitory, was built in 1901 and donated by Mrs. David Pulsifer Kimball in memory of her son. In 1906, Eliot Hall, also donated by Mrs. Kimball, was built in honor of Grace Hopkinson Eliot, wife of Harvard President Charles W. Eliot. Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow, Jr, designed both Bertram and Eliot Halls. Barnard Hall was built in 1912 and named for Augusta Barnard and her husband. Briggs Hall, named for Radcliffe’s second president, LeBaron Russell Briggs, was constructed in 1923, and Cabot Hall, named in honor of Ella Lyman Cabot, member of the Radcliffe Governing Board from 1902 to 1934, followed in 1937. The sixth building, Whitman Hall, was completed in 1911 and named for Sarah Wyman Whitman, the creator of two of the stained glass windows in Memorial Hall and a member of the Radcliffe Governing Board for several years. The Masters’ residence is located at 107 Walker Street. A residential wood-frame house at 103 Walker Street is the Senior Tutor’s residence.

While the outside of the brick dormitories has remained unchanged, renovations to the House 19 years ago and to the dining area in the summer of 2002 provide new facilities and newly configured suites more in line with the "vertical hallway" arrangements of the River dormitories.

hield

The Cabot House shield was adopted when South and East House became Cabot House, in 1984. The shield is the coat of arms used by the Boston Brahmin Cabots after whom the House is named, though, ironically, the shield is not truly their heraldic achievement; the coat of arms actually belongs to the French family Chabot, to whom the Boston Cabots have no relation.

Cabotoix have a unique affection for their shield, its red fish (freshwater perch, or "chabots") in particular. They are the inspiration for the common House cheer, "Go Fish!"—a play on the popular card game. Cabotoix feature their coat of arms on various apparel, including polo shirts, rugby shirts, and hooded sweatshirts. The standard coloration is used, or its inverse, as in the shield shown in the infobox accompanying this article (at right). A variation incorporating a white chevron, is also used; the chevron is a reference to the Harvard College shield, which is crimson with a white chevron.

The House Office also has an antique copy of the Cabot Shield which had been hanging in the dining hall before the renovations. Oddly, this shield's colors are drastically different, although the shield still features the same general design and motto: the field is black and the perch are silver, and the crest is a white scallop shell. While the origin of this scheme is unknown, it is interesting to note that these colors are identical to those of Trumbull College, Cabot's sister college at Yale.

The standard arms are described heraldically as follows: field, or, with three chabots, gules.

Motto

The Cabot family motto is 'Semper Cor' or 'Semper Corcabut,' roughly translating to 'Always Heart.' The Cabot House motto is slightly different, though related to the family motto: 'Tres Pisces, Cor Unum,' or 'Three Fish, One Heart.' The motto refers to the three perch on the Cabot Shield and to the strong sense of community and pride within the House.

Colors

The House colours, red and gold, are derived from the House shield; black, one of Radcliffe's colors, is a kind of unofficial color, featured in much House apparel. The Cabot House academic scarf featuring the House colors is, by coincidence, identical to that of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge; they have no affiliation.

Community and Traditions

Cabot House, above all, is known for its extremely strong sense of community and camaraderie. The unique features of the House and its unusual traditions in particular contribute to Cabot's well-known "esprit de corps".

The Dining Hall

Cabot's Dining Hall is very different from those at the River. Unlike other House Dining Halls, Cabot's is not enormous, paneled in mahogany and decorated with oil paintings, marble busts, and medieval tapestries. Some might see this as a comparative deficit, but in reality, it is considered one of the House's greatest assets. The dining hall—completed during the 1987 renovations of the Quad, replacing what is now the JCR as the House's cafeteria—is an intimate and bright space. Located beneath the Moors Hall (Pforzheimer House) terrace, the three-tiered room is painted white, its floors carpeted; as the long wall facing the Quad is almost entirely glass, it is bathed in natural light throughout the day. The servery likewise is bright and airy, with knotty pine walls and earthenware tile floors. It is one of the most recently renovated House serveries, completed in 2002.

More than serving merely as the House cafeteria, the Dining Hall is the center of House activity. Aside from being the site of hours-long, social dinners, each evening the Dining Hall fills with students who work together on problem sets and projects for various subjects. The sunken-in eating area on the outside of the dining hall, known as The Dugout, is also a popular gathering place for undergraduates to drink beer and socialize.

tein Club

Cabot House Stein Club is the Junior Common Room beer-appreciation society to which every member of the Junior Common Room (that is, all House residents) automatically belongs. Every other Thursday evening throughout the school year, Stein Club meets in one of Cabot's six Living Rooms, usually in Briggs or Barnard Hall. At each meeting, students socialize over various types of ale, purchased by the House Committee. Each year, ceramic steins are ordered which bear the House insignia and the name of the owner. Stein Club attendance is very high in Cabot; tutors and the House Master are also known to attend for a beer and fraternization.

Intramural Sports

Cabot fields a strong intramural sports squad each year. Cabot Crew, in particular, had an excellent season last year; the Men's A boat took first place among the Houses. Kevin Wecht '07 is this year's IM representative, in charge of organizing teams to take on the other Harvard Houses. Cabot holds the record for most consecutive Straus Cups (awarded to the House with the most intramural points accrued during the school year) with seven wins between 1994 and 2001.

pring Formal

There is an annual Cabot House spring formal, and is one of the classiest events of the school year. Previously known as The Cotillion, it is a black-tie event—white-tie strongly encouraged. This year, the House Committee is taking advantage of new space on campus, the Cambridge Queen's Head, to hold the first ever Cabot Prom, complete with elected Prom Court, to be announced at the Dutch Auction.

The Dutch Auction

To raise money for student events, the House Committee holds a Dutch Auction each spring. A poster is prominently placed in the House dining room where students can offer a service or object to be auctioned. In past years, students have offered to write theme songs for individual House members, to clean rooms, to go on a date, and so on; Cabot alum Rivers Cuomo donated an autographed copy of Weezer's new album during his senior year.

The Auctioneer for the Dutch Auction is usually a prominent member of the House or the House Committee. Past auctioneers include Nichele M. McClendon ('06) and Tessa C. Petrich ('07). Dutch Auctions are known for being wild events, with heated bidding wars and drunken revelry. The Dutch Auction is also known for the annual Lambing.

The Lambing

The Lambing is an unusual House tradition which takes place each year at the Dutch Auction. The highest bidder for the Lambing gets to name a House member who will be "lambed" at the following year's auction. The student who is lambed is ceremonially covered in oil, then flour, and then pieces of lamb, all in front of the cheering crowd in the House Junior Common Room. The student is not eaten or cooked—merely seasoned deliciously.

Although the Lambing has long been a tradition, it appears to have been carried out more in spirit, than with actual lamb, in recent years.

The Legend

Cabot House has its own ghost story, passed down from one generation to another by each year's House Committee chair.

Festivus

A newly-adopted tradition popularized by Seinfeld, Festivus is a very popular dinner during the month of December featuring cuisine from a multitude of cultures around the globe.

Rugby Shirt

Nearly a third of the House sports the black and white jersey (a nod to the Quad's Radcliffe heritage) with its Cabot insignia. Cabotoix can be spotted easily all over the Harvard campus due to their distinctive apparel, which also includes red sweatshirts and black polo shirts.

The Masters, Dean, Tutors, and Staff

The current Cabot House Masters are Jay and Cheryl Harris. A Barnard College grad, Cheryl is a school psychologist at Sharon (Mass.) High School. Jay received his PhD at Columbia University, and is the Harry Austryn Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at Harvard; he is also the Dean for Undergraduate Education at Harvard College. Jay and Cheryl eat with students in the dining hall at least once a day. Both are known for being warm and parental, and are extremely well-liked by Cabot students and tutors alike. Jay is also a fixture on the Cabot House Intramural Basketball Team.

Susan Livingston, the Assistant to the Masters, has been a part of Cabot for 17 years. She handles much of the day to day business of the House, in addition to directing the Cabot House Theatre—the house drama club. The House Theatre stages a musical in the spring of each academic year in the JCR.

Allston Burr Resident Dean Luciana Herman took her position in early 2008. She is Head Preceptor of Harvard's Expository Writing program.

The assistant to the Resident Dean, Susan Borneuf, handles the House files, and has been at Harvard for twelve years. She can be seen rowing in the women's intramural 'A' boat each sping for the House crew team.

The offices of all mentioned above are located in A-Entryway, the main lobby of Cabot House (sometimes called the "Grand Entryway").

Resident Tutors are graduate students who live in the House and provide academic and general guidance to House residents. The Resident Tutors for Cabot are:

Constituent Halls

Cabot House comprises the following six halls:

* Cabot Hall
* Whitman Hall
* Briggs Hall
* Barnard Hall
* Bertram Hall
* Eliot Hall

Cabot, Whitman, Briggs and Barnard are connected by a series of tunnels in the basement. The Dining Hall, JCR, and Grand Entry also serve to connect these buildings above ground. Bertram and Eliot Halls, the oldest, are not connected to the rest of the house, but are a short distance away, co-located on the Radcliffe Quadrangle. The Master's Residence and Resident Dean's Residence, 107 and 103 Walker Street, respectively, are located directly across the street from the rest of the house, and are the only such residences in the Harvard House system not to be physically connected to the rest of the house.

References

External links

* [http://cabot.harvard.edu Cabot House official site]