With grade inflation making headlines in Boston-area newspapers and Harvard and Tufts students trading blows over the relative difficulties of their undergraduate programs, students at both schools say they are not as focused on the issue as the coverage implies.
In a letter to The Tufts Daily published on Oct. 11, Harvard freshman Will Rosenbaum wrote, "How about the Tufts students who just weren't smart enough to get into Harvard.... As the popular clich?© goes, 'Don't hate us 'cause we're better!'" Rosenbaum's letter responded to a Daily article in which Tufts Dean Charles Inouye, a Harvard graduate, said that Harvard students are "essentially a lazy bunch."
Both the Daily and The Harvard Crimson received several letters, and Crimson columnist Ross Douthat wrote that students who do not attend Harvard often contract "The Harvard Syndrome," a disorder that, masking jealousy, causes them to make up excuses to explain their rejection by Harvard. The typical victim of Harvard Syndrome, Douthat says, is a "lifetime second-rater, [with] no concept of justifiable, well-earned pride."
Douthat insists the column was written tongue in cheek - a response to Dean Inouye's comments. "My column, as should be apparent to anyone who read it, was not intended to be a serious, hardcore explanation of the real issues facing Tufts and Harvard," Douthat said.
Douthat said that while he respects Tufts, most people would agree that Harvard is a superior school. And while there are some Harvard students that fit the school's stereotype, he said, students from most schools are jealous of their Harvard counterparts.
"A lot of Harvard students are arrogant and conceited. It probably goes without saying," Douthat said. "At the same time, I think a lot of students at Tufts, and other colleges, when they interact with Harvard students, do have a chip on their shoulders... and that's just because of the reputation that Harvard has."
Despite devoting a column to the subject, Douthat said he is not preoccupied with Tufts-Harvard relations. "People at Harvard don't sit around thinking about whether Tufts students are all on the Harvard wait list," Douthat said. "I don't think there are poisonous relations between Harvard and Tufts."
And while Inouye's comments have passed through Harvard dormitory e-mail lists and around Tufts dining hall conversations, most Tufts students agree that the "issue" is more of a non-issue.
Senior John Keough said that arrogance at Harvard and bitterness at Tufts are not prevalent attitudes. "For the most part, I'd say we don't think of them much at all," he said.
"I don't think that Harvard is really on anybody's mind. I also think that the vast majority of Harvard kids don't think of us either. I have a feeling that it's a very vocal minority that are so focused about inter-university relations," he said.
Keough said the perception of a Harvard Syndrome at Tufts stems from a stereotype. "Tufts has this image of being an Ivy-League wannabe," he said. "Just because [Harvard is] supposedly a better school than us doesn't mean that they don't fall into using stereotypes."
Like Keough, Harvard sophomore Jillian Copeland said most students don't see a rivalry at all. Copeland said she'd never thought about comparing the two schools. "I think of Tufts as a really fun school," she said. "I don't think about it in the context of a rivalry."
But some students admit to that "something special" about Harvard that makes them just a little jealous. "It's the only school I'm a little jealous of," freshman Jenny Ng said. "They've been considered the best school in the country for as long as I remember," adding that her sentiments towards Harvard existed before she got to Tufts.
"After I got into Tufts, I asked my father whether I could put the Tufts sticker on my car, and then he said 'no, I don't like putting stickers on the car.' Then I asked him if I got into Harvard, whether I could put the sticker on the car, and he said 'yes,'" he said.
Still, Ng said he is not preoccupied with Harvard. "I don't think about them most of the time," Ng said. "It's only when I'm in Harvard Square that it strikes my mind."
Studying at Harvard, sophomore Arielle Cohen said she has nothing against Tufts students, and enjoyed her own visit to Tufts when she was applying to schools. "I really liked the school, especially for kids that want to be in Boston," Cohen said. "Tufts is awesome. I think there are a lot of overlap kids" between Tufts and Harvard.
Cohen said she does not think about superiority issues, and that the Tufts student body is impressive in its own right. "I know a lot of people who got turned away from Tufts. I think people have a lot of respect for people who got into Tufts," Cohen said.
There appears to be a variety of points of view on Harvard-Tufts relations, ranging from the bitter, to the admiring, to no opinion whatsoever. There is also a range of perspectives on possible solutions to improve Harvard-Tufts relations. "As far as improving relations with Harvard, I think we shouldn't worry about them so much," Keough said.
Copeland also views the proximity and similarities between the two schools as having great potential. "I know that we do huge all-campus service projects. It'd be cute to do a Tufts-Harvard service project."
And Cohen says there should be more unity between the schools. "It doesn't make sense to me why more things aren't done between the two schools. You guys have some things that we don't have, and we have some things that you don't have."
