Yet '63 did not always agree with the administration. On April 21, 1961, the CRIMSON ran a small article on the bottom of its front page, innocently proclaiming "Lingua Latina Mortua Est." Less than one week later, several students gathered in front of Widener to hear an orator proclaim that Harvard should keep Latin diplomas even if the University became "the last light in a darkened world." Within three hours, more than 2000 students had participated in a riot which rivaled the proportions of the famed Pogo riot, complete with tear gas.
Yet the students lost on all counts: four were arrested and Pusey refused to change the diplomas into English.
Last year, the Class of '63 saw another example of administration-student strain when the CRIMSON produced a series of six editorials criticizing certain aspects of President Pusey's administration. This year, another administration official, Dustin M. Burke '52, general manager of the Harvard Student Agencies and director of the student employment office was criticized for a so-called "conflict of interest."
Academic Freedom
Yet through all the haze of criticisms by faculty and students, the University was able to resist the advance of academic infringement which began to rear itself at other Universities. When the Daily Pennsylvanian was suspended temporarily, the CRIMSON rushed to Philadelphia with a special edition expressing sympathy for the paper. While the University of Illinois was expelling a professor for advocating free love and other assorted "dirtinesses," Harvard came to the defense of its researcher John P. Spiegel who had been prosecuted for obtaining pornographic pictures despite his claims and the affirmation of his entire department that the pictures were necessary for the type of research he was doing.
Firing Draws No Criticism
So strongly has the University supported academic freedom, that when the Corporation fired an instructor last month for giving undergraduates drugs, few even suggested that the University had been guilty of infringing on academic freedom, despite the instructor's claims that he was engaged in valid scientific research on consciousness-expansion.
As the Class of '63 was soon to learn, however, being part of a University which prides itself on leadership could also be expensive. The rise in faculty salaries, keeping Harvard's at the top of the national scale, was paralleled by tuition hikes. The Class of '63 was subjected to a new 25-cent service charge at the Bick and an increase to $1.75 for haircuts in the Square. With the need for increases, the University has often re-evaluated the advisability of equalization and distribution of financial responsibility among students, such as room adjustment schedules.
Part of the new vitality was reflected on the athletic fields as well, with the football team's capturing the Ivy League championship (with Columbia) in 1961, in a victory which represented the University's first championship among Ivy League Schools since 1919.
Perhaps the most memorable event occurred last spring when John R. Pringle '63 led the swimming team to a 48-47 victory over Yale, and gave Harvard its first win over the Elis in dual competition since 1938. More than 2000 students had lined up for tickets before the meet, and the University finally resolved the problem by broadcasting the meet over closed-circuit T.V. to a capacity crowd in Sanders Theatre.
The Class of 1963 found itself in the middle of an extensive expansion in building, in individual instruction, in greater course offerings, and in the creation of new areas of concentration, such as social studies. 'Sixty-three has taken much from the College, but through active participation in the life around it, it has given much to the College, too.
With the quite recent eradication of gentleman "C's" as a desirable standard, the higher number of honors graduates, the stronger dedication to ideals, '63 has both followed and set new marks in the trends of the University. After four years of study, both they and the College are far richer