Looking back now, the stripper pole may have been the beginning of the end. Dudley Co-op, the only “alternative” dorm on the Harvard campus, had its share of lefty undergrad accoutrements—a Communist Manifesto mural, communal vegetarian meals—but when the school banished the living-room stripper pole a few years ago, it was a sign that the historic co-living house had perhaps overstayed its welcome.
Last week, Harvard made it official, announcing that Dudley, the co-op’s parent organization, was shutting down. The e-mail was notably unspecific about the fate of the co-op itself, based across two sprawling Victorians a short walk from Harvard Yard. Tom Dunne, Harvard’s dean of students, described the choice as one of many “difficult decisions” the college has made about its “staffing and structure” and promised to share more details about the co-op’s fate when fall classes start.
