Yesterday’s News

From the pages of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin and Harvard Magazine

Illustration by Mark Steele

1919

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences, “a pioneer without being precipitate,” votes to establish general examinations for the A.B. in all departments, consonant with President Lowell’s view that no mere aggregation of credits merits a degree unless the student can also prove that he knows “some one thing well.”

1929

The Student Council reports “a real and urgent need of advice” for undergraduates choosing vocations and urges establishment of an office to provide it.

1934

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration announces a special fund to help needy students finish the academic year, but Harvard College says it has money enough for its own students and will not apply for an allotment.

1959

Harvard and MIT establish a Joint Center for Urban Studies to search out the basic facts in the tangled problems of big-city growth.

1964

From President Pusey to undergraduates, Harvardians rally against a Metropolitan District Commission plan to build a 400-foot underpass at the junction of Memorial Drive and Boylston [now Kennedy] Street, near the Larz Anderson Bridge.

1999

On the same day a large student rally against sweatshop labor in clothing manufacturing occurs in the Yard, Harvard endorses a policy of “full disclosure” obligating manufacturers of licensed apparel to reveal the location of their factories.

Harvard Dining Services’ executive chef, Michael Miller, has developed a five-session, $25 course, “Cooking for the Culinarily Challenged,” to help students survive once they leave the Yard.

2004

The University launches the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, engaging seven of its schools and six affiliated hospitals in both research and clinical efforts focused on using stem cells to correct organ failure.

On April 1, for the first time in Harvard history, more women (1,016) than men (1,013) are offered admission to the College.

You might also like

Reparations as Public Health

A Harvard forum on the racial health gap

Unionizing Harvard Academic Workers

Pay, child care, workplace protections at issue 

Should AI Be Scaled Down?

The case for maximizing AI models’ efficiency—not size

Most popular

AWOL from Academics

Behind students' increasing pull toward extracurriculars

Why Americans Love to Hate Harvard

The president emeritus on elite universities’ academic accomplishments—and a rising tide of antagonism

The Broken Social Contract

Danielle Allen on America’s broken social contract

More to explore

Darker Days

The current disquiets compared to Harvard’s Vietnam-era traumas

Making Space

The natural history of Junko Yamamoto’s art and architecture

Spellbound on Stage

Actor and young adult novelist Aislinn Brophy