History

From NH4

New House 4 was founded sometime way back in the depths of time... probably about the same time as New House itself was founded in 1975. Not much is known about these early days of House 4 except that the house was all male, very independent, and more like a fraternity than it is today.

In the early days, NH4 was a language house, somewhat like Russian House, Spanish House, French House and German House. The language, Vardebedian, was created by an enterprising group of 5th floor students, in exchange for UROP funding from the linguistics department. The funding was used for "social events in which the language was developed and practiced." For some reason, the most commonly used phrase in Vardebedian was "Plop slammo flotten" meaning "The food hit the wall."

In the early 1980s, Vardebedia merged with the lower floors, where there resided a group of like minded individuals known at that time as the Umbros. Umbro being the brand of soccer jerseys that the group always wore to their IM events.

The all-male aspect of the house ended around 1987, when the house became co-ed. Most people, then and now, think that this was a definite improvement.

The independent nature of House 4 lived on, however, and has probably become the only tradition that the house has held on to for more than 4 or 5 years. Each "generation" of house members comes up with new and exciting traditions. Numerous stories exist in the memories and scrapbooks of house alumni/ae, who still feel attached enough to stay in touch from all over the world. They will gladly spend hours expounding upon the glorious traditions followed during their time here at MIT. Given the rapid changes in house character over the years, or months, or even days, very few long-standing traditions remain. Some current traditions include an Ultimate Frisbee game in Boston Common, a holiday dinner, and IAP mafia/potluck nights. However, House 4 people love spontaneous events, whether it be baking cookies or an impromptu dance party. In events like these the current House 4 members continue the tradition of independence that can be traced back to the beginning of House 4's existence.