Fifteen Minutes: From The File: War At Harvard

1919 Harvard's Most Ephemeral War: Football

At Harvard's appearance in the Rose Bowl, the stellar young Crimson bucks play Oregon and triumph by one point in a game that goes down in history as Harvard football's first and last stand.

1935 Word War

In response to a proposition to make him a candidate for an illustrious Harvard accolade, George Bernard Shaw offers a modest proposal: "If Harvard would celebrate its 300th anniversary by burning itself to the ground and sowing its site with salt, the ceremony would give me the greatest satisfaction."

1976 War in the Kitchen

A Harvard Dining Services worker is suspended from his job for over-cooking cauliflower. The campus erupts in rage as students protest in his defense and get him reinstated.

1980 Porn War

Two undergraduates are arrested for showing "Deep Throat" in Eliot House. Frankfurter Professor of law Alan M. Dershowitz defends them to his death.

1997 Grapes War

The United Farm Workers and Harvard have long boycotted grapes, but Dining Services boldly decide to re-serve grapes in the dining halls anyway. After a furious campus debate, grape lovers emerge victorious.

1999 House War

Adams House declares war on Pforzeimer, declaring the Quad house its "colony" and confiscating its letter "Pf." Brutally demoralized as "orzheimer," PfoHo students steal Adams House's prized dining hall gong.

--A. VAN DER ZEE