Characterizing Harvard hospitality as borderingon rudeness, Dean of the College Wilbur J. Bender'27 enthusiastically endorsed the proposed CrimsonKey Society in February 1948. The Society wasformed to greet and host athletes and dignitaries.
"We are 30 years behind other Eastern collegesin our good neighbor policy," said co-founderPatrick D. Dailey '50 at the time.
The group was officially organized two monthslater, when Gerald Y. Genn '48 was elected theSociety's first president. (Please see story,page B-7.)
Meanwhile, hoping to jolt a nearly decade-long"morass of inactivity," several Dunster Houseresidents organized the "Extra-Curricular AffairsCommittee."
House-based activities had remained dormantduring the spartan war years, and theextra-curricular affairs committee became devotedto creating a basis for clubs interested inanything from "rhumba to chess."
Harvard had a long tradition of strong studentactivities by mid-century, a fact which studentsnoted with pride in 1948.
Cambridge's only breakfast-table dailycelebrated its 75th year of publication, while theHasty Pudding Theatricals commemorated itscentennial with a six-city tour of theirproduction, Here's the Pitch. The HarvardDramatic Club turned 40 in '48, and the Orchestrafeted its 140th birthday.
The brainchild of William L. Alden '50, VeritasFilms got off the ground with its firstfeature-length production, Touch of theTimes.
About 50 students participated in the filmingof the 90-minute silent film, whose plot revolvedaround a love-sick factory worker who turned tokite-flying for solace.
Members of the Boston Symphony provided theaccompaniment for the movie, Alden says, andVeritas Films staffers were forced to "turn awaymobs" at the premiere in Harvard Square.
The student group eventually broke evenfinancially, thanks to a shrewd business managerwho had sold members' textbooks to fund theventure, according to Alden.
Harvard men could be fun-loving students, notsoldiers, in 1948, and the class of 1951 hostedhumorists Al Capp and Victor Borge at a jampacked"class smoker" in Memorial Hall--the first suchcelebration in seven years.
Meanwhile, administrators revived HarvardSummer School, a tradition skirted for six yearsbecause of lack of interest during and after theWar, and the 77-year-old program enrolled nearly2,300 students for the eight-week session.
The University also continued construction ofthe undergraduate-focused Lamont Library, thanksto several seven-figure gifts from Thomas W.Lamont, class of 1892 and former president of TheCrimson, who was named "the most generous son inHarvard's history" by the Harvard Alumni Bulletin.
The University was not so generous in providingaccess to the library, however--or other venuesfor that matter.
Status Quo
While co-education began in 1943 at Harvard, itwas an accommodation to the Faculty--not a gestureof equality.
With many students abroad, Harvard profes-