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.
