Headlines from Harvard history, November-December 1912-1992

Headlines from Harvard history

1912

Noting that the $50,000 maintenance fund necessary for a new music building to replace Holden Chapel is $15,000 short, the editors remind readers that “ a healthy and useful university is forever uncovering new needs….”

 

1927

Economics surpasses English as a concentration choice for the first time, with more than 400 freshmen entering the field.

 

1937

Courtesy of NBC and the BBC, the Harvard Club of London hosts a live broadcast of The Game, including Harvard and Yale cheers transmitted back to the teams in the Harvard stadium. (Harvard won, 13-6.)

 

1947

Professors attempting to separate “the sheep from the goats” (as the editors remark)—by locking classroom doors at exactly seven minutes past the hour—run afoul of the Cambridge fire department, which notifies lecturers that obstructing emergency exits is illegal.

 

1952

In a straw poll of undergraduates, loser Adlai Stevenson nevertheless gets the largest slice of “Harvard’s normally Republican majority” since Woodrow Wilson beat a split G.O.P. in 1912. The faculty members who are polled go for Eisenhower, 379-298.

 

1967

The Program for Science in Harvard College gets under way; one goal is a $14-million science center north of the Yard.

 

1982

MIT pranksters disrupt The Game with a balloon that erupts from the earth and inflates in front of the Crimson bench—but Harvard wins 45-7.

 

1992

Harvard has “locked the doors and [thrown] away the keys” for the Yard dorms, the editors report. The installation of card-reading devices there will likely be extended to the Houses to crack down on crime, despite occasional glitches—a door held open too long for a good-night kiss summons a University police car to investigate.

Related topics

You might also like

Yesterday’s News

A co-ed experiment that changed dorm life forever

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The rise of Cambridge cyclists, a lettuce boycott, and Julia Child’s cookbooks

Wadsworth House Nears 300

The building is a microcosm of Harvard’s history—and the history of the United States.

Most popular

Why Men Are Falling Behind in Education, Employment, and Health

Can new approaches to education address a growing gender gap?

The Trouble with Sidechat

No one feels responsible for what happens on Harvard’s anonymous social media app.

The Taliban and Trauma

Alumni friends collaborate to help students at the Asian University for Women.

Explore More From Current Issue

Lawrence H. Summers, looking serious while speaking at a podium with a microphone.

Harvard in the News

Grade inflation, Epstein files fallout, University database breach 

Anne Neal Petri in a navy suit leans on a wooden chair against an exterior wall of Mount Vernon..

Mount Vernon, Historic Preservation, and American Politics

Anne Neal Petri promotes George Washington and historic literacy.

A stylized illustration of red coral branching from a gray base, resembling a fantastical entity.

This TikTok Artist Combines Monsters and Mental Heath

Ava Jinying Salzman’s artwork helps people process difficult feelings.