Talk:Quadrangle (Harvard)

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[edit] POV issues

I'm not convinced of the NPOV of the "Quadlings" section. It's not clear to me that Quadlings have greater House spirit than residents of, say, Kirkland or Adams; "tribulation" is a loaded word; the discussion of advantages and disadvantages of Quad life is inherently POV, both in terms of what is classified as an advantages and what as a disadvantage, and in terms of the evaluation of the relative importance of the advantages and disadvantages; etc.

Also, why is River-dwellers one word? AJD 03:28, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Hey, I understand your concerns, but the wording is pretty cautious ("tend to be" rather than "are"), and no actual "conclusion" is reached (i.e.: Quad life is better than River life). It's not stated that Quadlings have greater spirit than residents of any particular River House, nor that all Quadlings have it, just that it's disproportionate. As for "what is an advantage and what is not"... it's true, there could be someone who wants to live as far from campus as possible, or who is philosophically opposed to the existence of shuttles! but in fact almost everyone agrees that one is bad and the other good. Most importantly, all the facts are presented, so people who have other preferences, if such people exist, will be able to decide where they stand. (As opposed to, say, writing "Currier is the best House.") That said, someone who wants to understand "Quadlings" as a group, as much as you can "understand" a group on the basis on widely held perceptions (inside and outside the group), needs to know that most freshmen don't want to get Quadded but that most Quadlings get over it... and needs to know why. Sorry about that last sentence, I think it's grammatical but that's no excuse.

I love hyphens, but I've never seen "Riverdweller" any other way. On that note, I considered hyphenating "shuttlebus" and struggled with it but finally convinced myself that no one writes it that way. EsdnePyaJ 22:55, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Four Year House

When I lived at the Quad, from 1974-77, all three were four year houses, in which there were freshman as well as all upper classes. Does anyone know the exact years when this took place? It's significant because some of us are among the few Harvard men ever not to reside in Harvard Yard at any time in our undergraduate years. BreadbakerWA 10:44, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Well there are the Union Dorms (i.e. Greenough, Pennypacker, Hurlbut), as well as Apley Court, where freshman can live, all outside Harvard Yard. Gydeon 5:30, 4 April 2008 (UTC)