Yesterday’s News

From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

Humorous illustration of campus police seeing late-night daters’ final kiss

Illustration by Mark Steele

1927

“To vagabond,” i.e., “to rove around classrooms where one does not belong,” has entered the undergraduate vernacular. The Bulletin reports a noticeable increase in the practice during the fall, as Crimson editors have begun printing daily lists of lectures deemed to be of general interest.

1932

Memorial Church, built in honor of the Harvard dead of “the World War,” is dedicated on the morning of Armistice Day.

1942

Gasoline shortages translate to a higher bike-theft rate, causing the City of Cambridge to mandate bicycle registration and licensing to make apprehending two-wheel thieves easier.

1982

Though MIT pranksters disrupt The Game with an inflatable “bomb” that erupts from the earth in front of the Crimson bench to blow up in a cloud of gray smoke, Harvard wins 45-7.

1987

Sally H. Zeckhauser becomes the first woman to serve as a Harvard vice president. The new administrative VP previously spent eight years as president and CEO of Harvard Real Estate Inc.

1992

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences approves a new undergraduate concentration in environmental science and public policy that will require students to study fields as diverse as chemistry and economics in a “broad integration of science and policy.”

Harvard has “locked the doors and [thrown] away the keys” for the Yard dorms, the editors report. The installation of card-reading devices and distribution of magnetic plastic cards to the freshmen 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.

Click here for the November-December 2022 issue table of contents

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