The annual Harvard-Brown football game took place Saturday at Brown Stadium — the first face off at home since 2018.
The game alternates between Providence and Cambridge each year and was held at Harvard in 2019 and 2021. The 2020 matchup, which would have been held at Brown, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Saturday’s game marked the tradition’s return to campus.
Bruno lost the game 35-28, but many students said that they were still excited to experience the school spirit that came with the event. The game was preceded by a tailgate organized by the Class Coordinating Board, according to an email from CCB.
“I feel like school spirit is not super common among Brown students, but having the game here definitely brought out some of that spirit,” Elli Clerides ’24 wrote in an email to The Herald. “It was fun to walk around and see everyone in their Brown gear being really excited to go to the game.”
“This was my first Brown football game ever, and I'm a junior,” Clerides added. “The entire time I've been a student here, these types of events either didn't happen at all or they were very restricted.”
Clerides said that the school spirit — not the game itself — was what made the experience fun
Phoebe Maranjian ’24.5, who is from Providence and grew up attending Brown football games, wrote in an email to The Herald that Saturday’s game was especially exciting for her because it was the first she attended as a student.
“On top of Brown really hitting their stride in the last quarter and getting the crowd riled up, it was just fun to see all of the students and alumni gathered together and showing their school spirit,” Fernandez wrote.
Fernandez felt that the game created more school spirit and a greater sense of community on campus, she added.
Alyscia Batista ’23 was on campus during the fall 2020 semester and was unsurprised when the game was canceled due to COVID-19. Saturday’s game was Batista’s first Harvard-Brown game, as she was unable to make it to Cambridge in past years, she said in a message to The Herald.
“I wanted that home spirit that comes with the game being played at Brown,” Batista said.
Batista felt that many opportunities to engage with the Brown community were taken away during her sophomore and junior year due to pandemic-related restrictions, she said.
“This was a really great opportunity to relish what I didn’t have,” Batista said. I “appreciate … that we finally can have a normal college experience.”
Grace Holleb is a University News section editor covering academics and advising. She previously covered the graduate student council beat as a senior staff writer. In her free time, Grace enjoys spending time with friends, traveling and running.
