Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Illustration by Mark Steele

1913

The Alumni Bulletin applauds the Crimson for advocating more enthusiasm at Harvard baseball games, which have been “as staid and solemn as the literary exercises on Commencement Day.”

1918

The Harvard Club of North China contacts President Lowell, offering a prize of $100 to the Harvard undergraduate or graduate student “who writes the best paper on any subject connected with China.” The 64 Chinese students on campus far outnumber those from any other country: Canada is second with 25, and Japan, with 21, is third.

1933

The Phillips Brooks House Association votes to forgo its annual dinner and use the money to send undernourished children to summer camp.

1938

Lucius N. Littauer, A.B. 1878, lays the cornerstone for the Littauer Center of Public Administration, the new home of the new Graduate School of Public Administration. Inaugural dean John H. Williams tells the audience that in addressing policy problems, “the economist, the political scientist, the sociologist, and the lawyer all have contributions that may lead to a broader and clearer understanding….”

1968

A new department of visual and environmental studies is set up in the College to replace the existing fields of architectural sciences and the practice of the visual arts.

1973 

“Flying in the face of tradition,” a committee representing a cross-section of the Harvard community reschedules the annual alumni meeting and alumni parade to Wednesday afternoon, a day before Commencement, rather than on Commencement afternoon. When rain pours down on Wednesday, experienced alumni grumble that it’s “asking too much to expect two fair days in a row.”

*    *    *

Commencement-week protest at the University, meanwhile, shifts from politics to plumbing as women distressed by the general shortage at Harvard of toilet facilities for their sex stage a protest in front of Lowell Lecture Hall.

2003

With a record 20,986 applicants having sought spots in the future class of 2007, the acceptance rate at the College falls below 10 percent for the first time.

You might also like

In Sermon, Garber Urges Harvard Community to ‘Defend and Protect’ Institutions

Harvard’s president uses traditional Memorial Church address to encourage divergent views.

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The Medical School goes coed, University poet wins Nobel Prize. 

Free Speech, the Bomb—and Donald Trump

A Harvard cardiologist on the unlikely alliances that shaped a global movement to prevent nuclear war

Most popular

Is the Constitution Broken?

Harvard legal scholars debate the state of our founding national document.

Paolo Pasco and the art of making crosswords

Paolo Pasco and the art of making crosswords

Harvard Research Funding Will Resume, Government Signals

Notices of grant reinstatements follow a court ruling, but the Trump administration could still appeal. 

Explore More From Current Issue

Man in gray sweater standing in hallway with colorful abstract art on wall.

How Do Single-Celled Organisms Learn and Remember?

A Harvard neuroscientist’s quest to model memory

Renaissance portrait of young man thought to be Christoper Marlowe with light beard, wearing ornate black coat with gold buttons and red patterns.

Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival

Without Christopher Marlowe, there might not have been a Bard.

Student walking under bright stage lights shaped like smartphones displaying social media apps.

Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard

What happens when students are publicly named and shamed for their views?