Indy Rewind: September 1976

Have you ever noticed the bronze plaques or informational signposts as you pass through the Yard on the way to your 9 a.m. class? Have you ever thought about all the people who have existed in these spaces? When we, as members of the Harvard community, reminisce about its long history, I do not think we recognize how substantial it actually is.

Most students know that Harvard was founded in 1636, making its 390-year history relatively short within the grand scheme of human history. But when we consider that the United States was founded just 250 years ago, it puts the University in a more prominent context.

By that metric, then, in comparison, the “Harvard Independent” is quite young. Founded in 1969 amid student unrest during the Vietnam War and concerns about censorship in campus journalism, the paper has spent nearly six decades documenting campus life and student experiences without censoring its coverage. And despite the historic yardstick by which we measure time on a campus like this, much can still transpire in six decades.

This past summer, I was lucky enough to spend much of my time exploring Harvard’s history through the physical archives in the institution’s library networks and “The Crimson’s” digital archives. I knew I had struck gold when I was given access to the printed issues of the “Harvard Independent” from the publication’s inception in 1969 to as recently as 2014. From advertisements with JPMorgan to schoolwide cheating scandals and fated football wins, it was incredible to see how similar yet how vastly different student life was at Harvard just over half a century ago.

So, what was happening in the “Harvard Independent” and on Harvard’s campus 50 years ago this month?

In September 1976, the “Harvard Independent’s” first two issues of the semester were published and sold for 25 cents. The paper covered everything from the Cambridge City Council’s three-month ban on certain types of recombinant DNA research—prompted by fears that Harvard scientists were on the brink of creating a “monster”—to changes in house maintenance and assignment procedures. But perhaps the most unusual story involved a little place many of you call home: Quincy House.

Charles W. Dunn, Master of Quincy House, performed his twelfth consecutive exorcism in the Quincy courtyard to expel all evil spirits from the vicinity. Writer Carla Hall ’77 interviewed then-College students who noted that Dunn had changed the script for the exorcism each year “so the goblins can’t build an immunity to it.” Senior tutor Marshall Pihl ’55 emphasized the exorcism’s effectiveness by claiming that he “[hadn’t] seen a demon around all year.”

Elsewhere in the news, six works owned and insured by the Fogg Museum were reported stolen from University President Derek Bok ’71’s private residence, including two $100,000 French Impressionist paintings by Eugène Boudin. Harvard Summer School’s introductory physics course, Physics S-1, was also disrupted by theft—and this was the second incident in three years involving a crowbar and a stolen answer key.

Meanwhile, the first presidential debate between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter was just around the corner, scheduled for Thursday, September 23 at 9 p.m. at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, 78 Mt. Auburn St.

And because some things never change, the pages are filled to the brim with advertisements offering students a glimpse into the opportunities and interests of the time, including private language classes in Boston, restaurants in the Square, and a drug to help you get rid of crabs.

So why does this matter?

Harvard often feels frozen in time—as if the world is moving around it. And the dark red brick buildings look the same, so too do many of the traditions and institutions that have shaped Harvard’s culture for generations. From entering finals season with Primal Scream to enjoying a performance by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, many aspects of student life have endured long after the students who created them have left. Yet Harvard’s culture continues to evolve with each new class that graces its campus.

Though it has captured only a small portion of Harvard’s history, the “Harvard Independent” lets us see both phenomena at once: what has changed and what has not. The weekly news updates, advertisements, scandals, complaints, and bizarre stories were once just ordinary happenings of a semester.

Today, we know Dunn’s annual ritual lasted from 1964 to 1981, before the ritual evolved into a playful Quincy House tradition and stress reliever for rising sophomores moving into the House. Additionally, the paintings stolen from the President’s residence were later recovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in October of the same year; four were found in Brookline and two in Rhode Island. And last but not least, sorry for the spoiler, but Carter won the presidency.

These stories are preserved in these pages as a unique piece of Harvard’s history. So why shouldn’t we talk about it and show off the work that our fellow Indy alumni put into these issues? Maybe the stories we are writing today will be revived in another 50 years, offering students the same opportunity to dive into the past and see a Harvard that looks and feels both familiar and entirely foreign. After all, this issue will just become a document of tomorrow’s history for all to see.

Lauren Mitchell ’28 (laurenmitchell@college.harvard.edu) writes Forum for the “Harvard Independent.”