Seniors: your this is Harvard

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 sends a second letter on the College's alcohol policy to undergraduates, signaling the University's more stringent regulation of student drinking. An initial letter on the subject went out over the summer.

November

Radcliffe College announces a massive restructuring, eliminating the position of dean and effectively dividing itself into two parts: Radcliffe Educational Programs and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies which unites the Bunting Institute, the Murray Research Center, the Schlesinger Library and the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute.

The administration clashes with PBHA leaders over control of the public service organization. Lewis appoints Judith H. Kidd the new assistant dean for public service. His decision angers student leaders who had ranked Kidd last on their list of candidates for the post. In December, more than 700 students protest her appointment.

Harvard defeats Yale in The Game, 22-21, on a last-minute touchdown.

December

Loker Commons opens to rave reviews but stirrings of discontent surface quickly. The following year the University retains a consultant to address Loker's flagging popularity. In Feb. 1997, the consultant reports students want fast-food franchises and a TV lounge. 1996

January

The Freshman Union serves its last supper.

Annenberg Hall opens to first-year diners. Students appreciate the dining environment, but express confusion at the "scatter system."

February

Neil L. Rudenstine releases the president's annual report which focuses on diversity in higher education. Reaffirming his stated commitment to diversity, Rudenstine writes, "We need to remind ourselves that student diversity has, for more than a century, been valued for its capacity to contribute powerfully to the process of learning and to the creation of an effective educational environment."

Currier residents are notified that $12,000 is missing from the House Committee's funds. Natalie J. Szekeres '97 is implicated in the theft, and in March, $12,000 is anonymously returned to the House. Following the restitution of the money, the University declines to prosecute Szekeres.

March

The class of '99 receives the first totally randomized House assignments. The process results in severe gender imbalances; the most extreme is the rising sophomore class in Pforzheimer House, 70 percent of whom are male. Administrators say they will reinstate controls for gender in following years.

April

Theodore J. Kaczynski '62, a mathematics concentrator from Eliot House, is taken into custody on suspicion of being the elusive Unabomber. Kaczynski later pleads guilty to the charges.

Currier House seniors Stephen V. David '96 and William A. Blankenship '96 are arrested on charges Possession of drugs with intent to distribute after an HUPD search team recovers ecstasy, LSD, marijuana and other illegal drugs. The students are not allowed to graduate. Students rally outside University Hall in support of expanded ethnic studies offerings.

The Undergraduate Council holds first popular elections for president and vice president. Robert M. Hyman '98 and Lamelle D. Rawlins '99 are elected president and vice president.

Responding to criticism from student activists at Harvard and across the country, PepsiCo announces it will sell its 40 percent stake in a joint venture in Burma, which has a military regime notorious for human rights abuses.

September

U.S. News & World Report ranks Harvard third after six years in the top spot, bruising egos and putting a damper on traditional cries of "safety school" during the year's Harvard-Yale Game. Students spend the academic year denying the validity of such rankings but seem pleased when the College returns to the top of the charts the next year.

October

Head of the Charles regatta is cancelled for the first time in 32 years due to heavy rains and wind.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, a member of the class of 1977, and Microsoft executive vice president Steven A. Ballmer '77 donate $25 million for a new building and a professorship in computer science and electrical engineering. The building, named Maxwell Dworkin for the donors' mothers, is scheduled for completion this summer.

November

Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld '66 loses a highly contested Senate race to incumbent John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

December

Lamelle D. Rawlins '99 elected president of the Undergraduate Council. She is the first woman to hold the post. 1997

January

Cabot Library initiates a trial-period of 24-hour access during reading period. Students embrace the change and it becomes standard practice for reading and exam period.

After months of picketing outside Mass. Hall, the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers wins contract concessions from the University.

February

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III releases a letter condemning final clubs, citing drug deals and sexual harassment complaints as reasons for students to avoid them.

Alex Myers '00 sponsors a Undergraduate Council resolution to include transgendered persons in the University's nondiscrimination policy.

March

University Provost Albert Carnesale accepts a position as chancellor of UCLA. Harvey V. Fineberg '67, former dean of the School of Public Health, is announced as his successor on April 3.

April

An unseasonable snowstorm blankets Cambridge with 24 inches of snow. Gov. Weld declares a state of emergency but classes go on as scheduled. The University has not closed due to weather conditions since the Blizzard of '78.

Ted A. Mayer is hired as new director of Harvard Dining Services, replacing the popular "Mealtime Messiah," Michael P. Berry, who left for Disneyland.

In a rare use of the bully pulpit, Rudenstine heads a nationwide coalition of 62 university presidents calling for maintaining diversity in higher education, following the Supreme Court's Hopwood decision restricting the use of race as a factor in admission.

Fifteen female senior Faculty members send a letter to Rudenstine Protesting the denial of tenure to Bonnie Honig, associate professor of government. Their letter sparks widespread criticism of Harvard's secretive tenure review process and of the administration's stated commitment to faculty diversity.

May

The Office of the Arts denies funding to student performer Mark R. Talusan, a.k.a. the Dancing Deviant, citing the sexually explicit content of his performance.

Gina M. Ocon '98-'00 wins the right to move with her daughter to Cambridge to resume her Harvard education after a highly publicized custody case.

Filming for Good Will Hunting begins in Harvard Square. Former Harvard undergraduate Matt Damon, class of 1992, later wins a best screenplay Oscar for the movie with fellow Cantabrigian Ben Affleck.

The Faculty votes for Core Reform, instituting a Quantative Reasoning Requirement for the Class of 2003, promising to expand Core offerings and encouraging greater inclusion of departmental courses in the Core.

Federal officials suspend a $14 million contract with the Harvard Institute of International Development after discovery of possible improprieties in the administration of projects in Russia. Accusations focus on Professor of Economics Andrei Shleifer '82, who allegedly "abused the trust of the United State government by using personal relationships...for private gain," officials say.