The Year After

AMID THE extensive commentary surrounding George Orwell's quasi-prophetic novel 1984, few historians or writers have noted the predictions of another, anonymous work--1984--And Then Some. Below are some excerpts from that little-known volume.

January

Unseasonably warm weather, prompted by the heightened greenhouse effect underway, persists into the new year. The polar ice caps begin to melt, flooding Canada and parts of downtown Cambridge. Harvard Facilities Maintenance men work 'round the clock to keep paths to the libraries and Mem Hall passable. Reading Period, cancerlike, festers into exam period. Students refuse to take exams for the first three days until their biological clocks have completed the full two-week cycle.

In Washington, the meteorological chaos brings a heat wave to the Inaugural festivities. Unprepared GOP faithfuls are caught off guard by the high temperatures. Fur-clad women, collapsed from heat prostration, litter the broad boulevards of the capital. The genial second-term President quips in his vanguard speech, "no, I'm definitely not too could to be President."

February

Former EPA administrator Anne Burford is appointed to replace William Clark as Secretary of the Interior after Jeanne Kirkpatrick scornfully refused the post. Asked to describe her feelings about the position, Burford labelled her new job a "chickwich."

Responding to President Bok's reversal on her tenure decision. Sociologist Theda Skocpol announces that she will decide in March whether to accept the offer.

March

Boston Bishop Bernard F. Law '55 is named cardinal, making him the first Adams House alumnus to achieve this honor.

Theda Skocpol reports she will give Bok a response no later than the beginning of the fall semester.

April

April 8, 1985--Spurred by ongoing nationwide protests against apartheid in South Africa, Harvard students and faculty launch a massive strike for University divestiture.

April 10, 1985--With the strike going full force in its third day. President Bok announces that he will again review the case for divestiture.

April 11, 1985--The Harvard Crimson reports that sources close to President Bok claim "Bok and the Corporation will vote for divestiture at their meeting tonight."

April 12, 1985--The Harvard Crimson runs a half page retraction of a recent news item.

April 14, 1985--The strike ends when several organizers are caught studying in Hilles Library.

May

After a student referendum that showed overwhelming support for a Greatful Dead concert, the Undergraduate Council hosts a spring concert by the group Husker Du. The event loses more than $2000. A subsequent investigation reveals no fraud or thefts.

President Bok makes an appearance at the Quad for the ground breaking of the scheduled North House renovations. The ceremony is cancelled when organizers report that the construction equipment and crews have not yet arrived.

June

June 7, 1985--The Harvest restaurant reports record profits.

July

Interior Secretary Burford selects the rock group Cheap Trick to play at the annual Fourth of July concert on the Mall. The decision is overruled by First Lady Nancy Reagan who calls for the return of the Beach Boys. Soviet Westernophilc Michael Gorbachev praises the selection of the Beach, Boys, calling the group "my favorite musicians."

Gorbachev successfully negotiates a trade deal with the U.S. including previously embargoed technological equipment.

August

Skocpol announces that she has given herself a five-year deadline to decide whether to join the Harvard Faculty.

The University's controversial Medical Area Total Energy Plant (MATEP) receives a final green light from the state despite evidence that the plant's deisel emissions will corrode its own smokestacks within months.

September

September 3, 1985--Derek Bok makes an appearance at the Quad for the groundbreaking of the scheduled North House renovations.

The first week of classes are cancelled when record red-dotting--a full two-thirds of the student body fail to meet tuition payments--plays havoc with normally well oiled registration machinery. Holyoke Center officials attribute the unprecedented number of late payments to steeper tuition costs and "the spirit of lawlessness rampant among this country's young."

October

The Committee on College Life approves a record number of new undergraduate organizations. Among the newly recognized groups: Harvard Students for Patriotism, Friends of The Salient, and Harvard Pre-Laws Helping Pre-Laws, an LSAT support group.

Ec Department Chairman Martin S. Feldstein '61 announces that in the interest of making the curriculum for Social Analysis 10, the yearlong introductory economics course, more uniform, the class will only cover post-Keynesian economics. "There will be additional, optional lectures on economic policy prior to 1980," the former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors reassured concerned students.

North House renovations are postponed until spring.

November

Presidents of the nine exclusive all-male final clubs announce they have contracted to receive their heat from MATEP at full market rates.

December

Under the auspices of the Interior Department, government workers erect a large nativity scene on the Mall near the Washington Monument. Burford is revealed to have taken several key church leaders to lunch prior to the decision to mount the display.

Reagan reveals in a press conference that he and First Lady Nancy divide all executive responsibilities "equally." "That should make those feminists happy," the genial second-term President quips.

President Bok announces a new $350 million fundraising drive for the University's 350th anniversary, to be celebrated in fall 1986. Harvard financial officers express optimism that they will reach the ambitious goal within the allotted nine months.

Despite all reports to the contrary, 1986 arrives.