John Harvards Pregame for Lynah East

[A-19]

Although I was not involved in planning or publicizing the below event, I have learned about it and wanted to make others aware of it:

Per discussions with the Cornell Club of Boston and office of alumni affairs, and as stated in the link below, I have learned that Cornell has apparently rented out all of John Harvards in Harvard Square from 1630-1830 on 11 November before the Lynah East game.  Accordingly, the only apparent way to enter John Harvards is to buy a reception ticket in advance, and the website indicates that walk-ins will not be permitted.

On one hand, it's kind of nice not to have to fight for a table/reservation like we used to do every year.  On the other hand, renting out the restaurant kind of defeats the purpose that Cornell has "taken over" a Harvard student landmark.

Regardless of the above, I know that JHs has been for some time the go-to place for pregame meetups and I wanted to share this information with you.  Below is the CCOB link, and, following that, the alumni association link for purchasing tickets.

Hope to see lots of familiar faces in Boston.  LGR

Mike '04

CCOB: http://www.cornellclub.org/article.html?aid=658
Payment: https://secure.www.alumniconnections.com/olc/pub/CEL/event/showEventForm.jsp?form_id=114220

[Rosey]

Hmmm... let's see: I now can pay what amounts to about $13 extra ($18 minus one drink) for the privilege of going back to the same place I've been for the last 10 years, only without the fun of subjecting the non-Cornellians in the establishment to the hockey chants, or I can find somewhere else to go that the greater Cornell Overfiend hasn't decided to take over, corporatize, and profit from, all without adding any value.

I'm failing to see the value proposition here.

[Beeeej]

I'm failing to see the value proposition here.

This way you get to complain about how nobody besides you understands the right way to do things.  That's worth at least $13.

[Rosey]

I'm failing to see the value proposition here.

This way you get to complain about how nobody besides you understands the right way to do things.  That's worth at least $13.

I should start charging for my rants. There might be a Chivas Regal effect there. :-)

And get off my lawn, dammit. [/angrily shakes walker]

[Robin]

True.  Hadn't thought about the no non-Cornellian factor.  they can't even try to come in for a drink and see our crowd.  another ding.

[A-19]

i imagine the cornell club must have had to shell out a serious amount of money to john harvards to take over the entire restaurant for two hours on a friday night, in order for it to have been financially feasible for the restaurant to agree.  i wonder if there arent many takers on the reception if the restaurant would let in the general public?

[Beeeej]

Despite the general sentiment on this board, I have no doubt the reception will be packed.  The CCOB is large and enthusiastic, and they always fill a couple of sections at Bright for the game.  Moreover, the event page says you have to buy either a reception ticket, or a reception ticket and a game ticket - no game tickets alone.  So expect John Harvard's to be full.

[Rosey]

i imagine the cornell club must have had to shell out a serious amount of money to john harvards to take over the entire restaurant for two hours on a friday night, in order for it to have been financially feasible for the restaurant to agree.

A little bird tells me that they're actually closed all day Friday in preparation for this thing, so it's obviously big $$$.

Despite the general sentiment on this board, I have no doubt the reception will be packed.  The CCOB is large and enthusiastic, and they always fill a couple of sections at Bright for the game.

Then why not take over some restaurant not near the rink, since most of these people are going to be driving their Bentleys to the game, anyway? Leave JH's to those of us walking or taking the T, not coming in from Weston and Wellesley.

Edit: I realize I am now getting slightly ridiculous, but in all seriousness, these people need a beatdown for interfering with something that worked just fine for over a decade.

Edit2: My folks will be in that weekend, and we'll probably hit Foundry on Elm around 5, if anyone is interested in joining us.

[Robb]

something that worked just fine for over a decade.

I know for a fact that we went to JH's before the game on 2/12/94, so it's at least 17 years running.

[ftyuv]

In all honesty, it's crap like this that makes me avoid official alumni associations. I know I'm probably in the minority on this one, and it's probably not in their cost-benefit ratio to give a hoot -- but if anyone from CCOB is listening in, you're alienating me.

[Ben Rocky '04]

In all honesty, it's crap like this that makes me avoid official alumni associations. I know I'm probably in the minority on this one, and it's probably not in their cost-benefit ratio to give a hoot -- but if anyone from CCOB is listening in, you're alienating me.

seconded.

[munchkin]

I just sent the link to this thread to the Programming Committee chair for the CCOB. I know he's not on ELF and wouldn't have seen this, but it's brought to his attention.

Edit: His response is below. This means if you want it to change, get a lot of people to call Cornell and say, poor choice.


> Thanks for sharing. Yes, we've heard from some people, and believe me, we
> took a lot of things into consideration. No matter which way I look at it, I
> don't see the issue, nor am I concerned about too much here. I try to
> empathize as much as I can (and believe me, I was not the loudest voice on
> this discussion -- it was actually the biggest Cornell (hockey) fan I've
> ever met, Tom Pasniewski '98, who follows eLynah), but we need to do
> something. The reception/game is our biggest event of the year. John
> Harvard's only provided us with a small room in the past and we had a lot of
> complaints because of the space, the noise, the food, and beer. We did
> everything we could this year to negotiate with JH's to buy out the entire
> restaurant so people would be more comfortable and we could have more
> people. Inevitably, some people will be upset. I'm sorry to hear that and I
> hope they don't take anything personally. No event is perfect, nor can it
> make everyone happy or accommodate everyone. But it's also pretty shallow,
> base, and selfish for people to be completely turned off by the prospect
> that we're trying to include more Cornellians. I'm not directing that at one
> or two people or targeting them as people, but the argument. And we are
> making zero dollars on this. We break-even. We had to put money up front to
> buy it out, and we had to charge accordingly so that we don't make or lose
> money (it's possible we'll still lose some money, but we can take that risk
> for the whole purpose of this event).
>
> If there were a couple of hundred people sharing their frustrations I'd see
> this as a problem and believe me, Cornell would take notice. But at the end
> of the day, my/our jobs as both volunteers and for those paid by Cornell,
> our goal is to bring a lot of people out for a high-quality, memorable
> experience for the sake of Cornell pride and fun. I'm not seeing that here,
> and again, I do this for a living so I've seen and heard them all.
>
> Happy to chat more and by no means do I, or anyone else, want to offend or
> upset anyone. If people want to see something different, why don't they
> raise their hands and help us better understand their demands and interests?
> We survey people both formally and informally and balance the needs of as
> many people as we can all the time. Inevitably, this still happens. We've
> already sold 300 tickets to the reception, and we have capacity for 500. I
> hope those people will show up and introduce themselves to those of us who
> want to see people happy and having fun, rather than just sharing their
> feelings on eLynah.

[sawyer]

> our goal is to bring a lot of people out for a high-quality, memorable
> experience for the sake of Cornell pride and fun.

While I appreciate the well thought out response from the CCoB's committee chair, I was of the opinion that's JH's has been this kind of experience for the last 12+ years without anyone's involvement.  Being that I have friends coming from out of town that will likely only have time for a quick beer before the game, we're going someplace else.

[Rosey]

> our goal is to bring a lot of people out for a high-quality, memorable
> experience for the sake of Cornell pride and fun.

While I appreciate the well thought out response from the CCoB's committee chair, I was of the opinion that's JH's has been this kind of experience for the last 12+ years without anyone's involvement.  Being that I have friends coming from out of town that will likely only have time for a quick beer before the game, we're going someplace else.

The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe.

(We get a freighter?)

[Rosey]

Edit: His response is below. This means if you want it to change, get a lot of people to call Cornell and say, poor choice.

His response is utterly tone-deaf, and precisely what I expected. Spontaneous order doesn't provide him with the experience his more important alumni want, so he takes control and then tells everyone else we're being unreasonable for not being sufficiently appreciative at having our annual event co-opted.