Est. 1920: Make Me a Match

After each new issue hits the presses, we sift the sands of time and Hoya archives. Where was Georgetown around this day in history?

Once again, Valentine's Day (read: not St. Valentine's since the story of the saint is disputed) has come to the Hilltop, with some lucky couples enjoying the spotlight while the majority of campus goes to Love Stinks parties or claims that they're "OK with being single." (And hey, why not?) In the '90s, however, a freshman group sought to bring a little love back to campus.

As reported on Feb. 12, 1993, the Freshman Class Committee announced its intent to introduce "DataMatch" to Georgetown. DataMatch was a program that matched possible couples by crunching the numbers on interests and hobbies, basically a Match or eHarmony back in the Dark Ages before widespread use of the Internet.

But this is Georgetown. Such a service was not done out of the goodness of the FCC's heart: After students filled out the forms, they could buy the results of the 10 most compatible participants in the survey for a buck.

Results were mixed. One freshman claimed, "DataMatch has been a blessing from God. ... I just sat back and let the cavalcade of phone calls roll in. I'm in heaven."
Another claimed, "The people I was matched with didn't appear to be my type over the phone."

Kristen Bodden (CAS '96) concluded that "I just don't think it's cool to call up this random person and say, 'Hey! Some computer says we're perfect for each other. I'll see you in the Pub.'"

Ignoring the awesomeness of the fact that freshmen could go on a date at a bar underneath Healy, it's sad to see that our ancestors didn't foresee the effect of Facebook. — The Hoya, Feb. 12, 2011

— Stephen Levy