June 1997
The University announces that from 1988 to 1994 it secretly acquired 52.6 acres of land in the Allston section of Boston.

July 1997
Two Harvard students, Deshaun R. Hill '99 and Harvard C. Nabrit Stephens '99, die in a car crash in Monterey County, Calif.

September 1997
The Barker Center for the Humanities opens.

Harvard's endowment tops $11 billion.

MIT first-year Scott Krueger dies following a night of heavy drinking at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. Krueger's death prompts housing policy changes at MIT as well as a crackdown on alcohol use at area colleges. Less than a month after Krueger's death, Epps releases a statement strengthening Harvard's alcohol policy.

October 1997
The University celebrates 25 years of co-residency in the Yard and dedicates the Anne Bradstreet Gate to its female students and alumni.

7 - The body of 10-year-old Cambridge boy Jeffrey Curley is found in a Maine river. Two men, Salvatore Sicari and Charles Jaynes, are charged with the murder. Curley's death was considered a motivating force in an 81-79 vote by the Massachusetts House of Representatives on Oct. 28 to reinstitute the death penalty.