Kirkland House
Encyclopedia
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, located near the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. It was named after John Thornton Kirkland
John Thornton Kirkland
John Thornton Kirkland served as President of Harvard University from 1810 to 1828. A religious minister like many of his predecessors, he is remembered chiefly for his lenient treatment of students...
, president of Harvard University from 1810 to 1828. Some of the buildings were built in 1914 but construction was not completed until 1933. Kirkland has fewer residents than most Houses at Harvard, but has nevertheless managed to win many intramural and house-spirit contests, most recently the 2006 Straus Cup. Before Harvard opted to use a lottery system to assign housing to upperclassmen, Kirkland was considered the "jock house" because its location near Anderson Bridge and the Soldiers Field made it a desirable home and convenient place to dine for Harvard athletes.
Kirkland House boasts many tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
s such as its opening ceremony (complete with Minutemen reenactors playing the drums and fife as they process around the House, followed by the house masters, tutors, and students), and Secret Santa week (an in-house-only series of gifts, jokes, and events) -- accompanied by bawdy skits in the dining hall, a winter dance nicknamed "IncestFest" (a debaucherous dance open only to members of the house).
Kirkland House has also hosted several celebrities and political guests over the years. During the race for the 2004 Democratic Presidential nominantion, Kirkland House hosted Richard Gephardt, Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election. Currently an independent, he remains closely affiliated with the party.Born in Stamford, Connecticut,...
, Dennis Kucinich
Dennis Kucinich
Dennis John Kucinich is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He was furthermore a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections....
, John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
, Wesley Clark
Wesley Clark
Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr., is a retired general of the United States Army. Graduating as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and later graduated from the...
, Howard Dean
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
, Al Sharpton
Al Sharpton
Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election...
, and John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, and held informal symposium with several political experts. The Kirkland House dining hall has hosted luncheons honoring Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
, George Lopez
George Lopez
George Lopez is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host. He is mostly known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom George Lopez. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including the Mexican American culture...
, Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith is an American actress, producer, director, author, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman. She began her career in 1990, when she made a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom True Colors. She starred in A Different World, produced by Bill Cosby, and she featured...
, Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek
Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez de Pinault is a Mexican film actress, director and producer. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her role as Frida Kahlo in the film Frida.-Early life:...
, Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
, and Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
among others, during the college's annual diversity celebration, "Cultural Rhythms." Kirkland is also annual host of the Harvard College Democrats' "Leadership Award Dinner," held every spring in Kirkland's dining hall. Recent award winners have been Alabama Congressman Artur Davis
Artur Davis
Artur Genestre Davis is a former member of the United States House of Representatives for , serving from 2003 to 2011 when he was succeeded by Terri Sewell, also a member of the Democratic Party....
(in 2005), former Virginia Governor Mark Warner
Mark Warner
Mark Robert Warner is an American politician and businessman, currently serving in the United States Senate as the junior senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Warner was the 69th governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 and is the honorary chairman of...
(in 2006) and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius
Kathleen Sebelius
Kathleen Sebelius is an American politician currently serving as the 21st Secretary of Health and Human Services. She was the second female Governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, the Democratic respondent to the 2008 State of the Union address, and chair-emerita of the Democratic Governors...
(in 2007).
Kirkland House has a gym, lounge, game room, music rooms, and performance and event spaces for students. It also has a wall honoring the history of the Kirkland House Boat Club, which has won Harvard's intramural men's sweeps regatta more often than any other House. Most recently, Christopher D.H. Row, a resident tutor, art history doctoral candidate, and master of divinity student, led the KHBC to five consecutive victories and was awarded the title of "Admiral-for-Life." Among the most recent additions is a brewery, operated and maintained by the Kirkland House Brew Club, which occupies the space once used as the house darkroom.
Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...
, adjacent to Eliot House
Eliot House
Eliot House is one of twelve residential houses for upperclassmen at Harvard University and one of the seven original houses at the College. Opened in 1931, the house was named after Charles William Eliot, who served as president of the university for forty years .-Traditions:Before Harvard opted...
, and across Dunster Street from the Malkin Athletic Center. Sharing a kitchen with Eliot House
Eliot House
Eliot House is one of twelve residential houses for upperclassmen at Harvard University and one of the seven original houses at the College. Opened in 1931, the house was named after Charles William Eliot, who served as president of the university for forty years .-Traditions:Before Harvard opted...
, the two dining halls are known for the best food on campus, and Kirkland's staff is committed to providing exceptional customer service.
The House Seal is a black cross with three silver stars on a red field.
Famous Kirkland alumni include Jeff Bingaman
Jeff Bingaman
Jesse Francis "Jeff" Bingaman, Jr. , is the senior U.S. Senator from New Mexico and a member of the Democratic Party...
, Charles Murray (author)
Charles Murray (author)
Charles Alan Murray is an American libertarian political scientist, author, columnist, and pundit working as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, DC...
, Franklin Raines
Franklin Raines
Franklin Delano "Frank" Raines is an American business executive. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer of the Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae, who served as White House budget director under President Bill Clinton...
, Kevin Kallaugher
Kevin Kallaugher
Kevin Kallaugher is a political cartoonist for The Economist and the former cartoonist for the Baltimore Sun. He is known as KAL at The Economist.-Editorial cartoon career:...
, Wallace Shawn
Wallace Shawn
Wallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
, Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social theorist, political philosopher, and author. A National Humanities Medal winner, he advocates laissez-faire economics and writes from a libertarian perspective...
, Pat Toomey
Pat Toomey
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Toomey, Sr. is the junior United States Senator for Pennsylvania and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Toomey served as a U.S. Representative for three terms, but did not seek a fourth in compliance with a pledge he had made while running for office in 1998...
, and Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...
.
2009 shooting of Justin Cosby
On May 18, 2009, Justin Cosby was shot in the basement of the J entryway of Kirkland House as part of a failed robbery attempt. Emergency medical services found Cosby outside the Office of Career Services, about one block from Kirkland, and transported him to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical CenterBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts is a major flagship teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. It was formed out of the 1996 merger of Beth Israel Hospital and New England Deaconess Hospital...
in Boston, where he died the following morning.
Over the next few months, Massachusetts and New York identified and arrested three men who allegedly committed the robbery and homicide: Blayn "Bliz" Jiggetts, of Mount Vernon, NY, and Jabrai J. Copney and Jason Aquino, both of New York City. None of the alleged assailants nor the victim was a Harvard student. Two Kirkland residents gave electronic access to the victim, who had come to campus to deal marijuana. One of the alleged killers was the boyfriend of a student. Harvard barred a female student from graduating with the class of 2009 pending the investigation, although its reasons for doing so were not publicly disclosed. The student, Chanequa N. Campbell, told the press that she was unconnected to the shooting and that the school's decision to bar her from campus and withhold her diploma was motivated by racial bias.