The Quad looked a bit like a Himalayan base camp through November as students set up tents and got cozy in sleeping bags, braving the encroaching winter to raise money for a neighborhood action group.

One night was especially cold. The ground froze hard and the wind was icy. But still the campers came.

“This is something we really want to do,” said Christine Woll ’07, throwing on a fleece pullover and zipping shut the tent she was sharing with a friend. “It’s for a good cause and it makes you really grateful for a warm bed and a heater.”

Woll joined two dozen other students on this night, one of many that she spent on the Quad. The tents, all shapes and sizes, made a colorful village of nylon and canvas, a sharp contrast to the stone and brick buildings that sit primly behind the walkways and trees. Some students said that they preferred the sound of the wind and rustling leaves to the sometimes-noisy dorm rooms. Others were sad that the so-called Quad CAMPaign couldn’t go longer.

With sponsors on campus and in the community, around 100 Hunger and Homelessness Month campers, all told, raised more than $1,000 for the Visible Community, a local organization protesting an urban renewal initiative they say would displace lowincome residents.

“It’s been really fun and nice to be able to help out a good cause in such an easy way,” said Woll, setting her alarm for an 8 a.m. biology lab. “Plus, I can just roll up my sleeping bag and go right to class. It’s very convenient.”

— Mari Kenton Wright ’07