High Table is an opportunity for students to dine closely with faculty, administrators, and other esteemed guests one would not otherwise encounter. It is an opportunity for seniors to network with professionals in various fields or find a connection to a new undertaking. It is always an entertaining, delicious, and intellectually lively dinner.
High Table is a venerable tradition in Lowell House dating back to Lowells first faculty dean, Julian Lowell Coolidge, mathematics professor and anglophile. He instituted High Table, alluding to the old Oxford and Cambridge traditions, as a formal dinner with select seniors and Senior Common Room members of the House. The difference between the anglo traditions and Coolidges was that he preferred SCR members dine with students and not simply above them on the high table.
Each Monday night the High Table begins with pre-game social drinks in the Junior Common Room, where the Houses dinner guests can meet the battery of tutors and undergraduates. At six thirty, either fortified with tomato juice or mellowed with sherry, the whole company files into the House dining hall to eat the regular fare with “a little extra” at the long, raised table at one end of the room.
During the dinner, there is little ceremony. Julian Coolidge, the Houses first Master, who imported the High Table custom from Oxford, intended the Monday night dinners as a social mixer for the House staff and undergraduates. The few traditions and ceremonies that the Table does have were designed by Coolidge to ward off pompousness and keep the atmosphere easy and friendly. Thus, alert to the malaise that accompanies the combination of a heavy meal, a discourse, and a tuxedo, he expressly banished any after-dinner orations. And Elliott Perkins, the present Master, follows the old Arabic custom of taking salt with ones friends; he passes around the table a large silver urn, the gift of Coolidge. The salt is no personal eccentricity of Perkins; it takes the place of wine at High Table. With local liquor reguations what they are, the Houses are forbidden to serve alcoholic beverages, and thus instead of offering up a toast in wine, the High Table guest dips into the salt.
The Table has long aroused college men both pro and con. The sight of a group of tuxedoed men eating better food on a raised platform has stirred the democratic ire, of many a student. The Tables opponents claim that it is a snobbish piece of showiness, while its defenders say that it is a good way of bringing together the House staff and undergraduates.
The Tables guests, as diversified as its donors, have run the gauntlet from English naval officers to Cambridge politicians. Ex-City Manager Atkinson, and Cambridge City Mayor Crane have both come more than once, as well as various distinguished Lowell House alumni who make their presence in Boston known to the House Secretary.
In the present heyday of high pressure University dining halls where diners are dealt with the speed of a card simile, leisure and elegance are otter deemed obstructions to progress. In this utilitarian atmosphere, the Lowell House High Table, a very elegant and leisurely formal dinner of the Houses master, tutors, and invited Seniors (chosen in rotation) comes as a curious anomaly.
Dining Etiquette Tutorial For HKBU High Table Dinner
How high should a dining table be?
There are four common dining table heights: standard, counter height, bar height, and extra tall. Adjustable-height tables are also common option if you’re looking for extra flexibility. Standard: Standard height tables are about 28″ – 30″ high and are meant to be used with chairs that have seat heights of 18″ – 23″.
What is a high table?
The high table is a table for the use of fellows (members of the Senior Common Room) and their guests in large university dining halls in some universities, where the students eat in the main space of the hall at the same time. They remain the norm at Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin and Durham universities, which are all organized into colleges.
What is a counter height dining table?
A counter-height dining table is slightly taller than the standard dining table. Counter height measures 34-36 inches (it’s designed to be the same height as a countertop) and is typically paired with 24-26 inches height stools. There are a few reasons counter height might be the best choice for you.
Where is a high table in a dining hall?
The table is normally at the end of the dining hall on a raised platform, although this is not always the case. Typically, the high table is set across the breadth of the hall, and is thus at right angles to the tables in use by the main body of diners, which stretch along the hall’s length.