Fortmiller recalls going to Cronin's, a Harvard Square bar/restaurant, and attending dances at the Hasty Pudding and "Jolly-Ups" almost every weekend as frequent ways he entertained his dates.

While the many Crimson editorials of the time appear to demonstrate a class consensus against parietal rules, some students say they were disinclined to mount a full-scale protest.

The Class of '51 had just escaped the draft for World War II and many felt lucky just to be at Harvard.

"We weren't going to have a big sit in--we were the generation that observed World War II from the sidelines," Mason says. "We were the first of a new young generation that was probably more accepting."

But the acceptance didn't always translate into passivity.

In November of 1950, Harvard men took up the chant "On to Radcliffe" when Cambridge blacked out for the night.

The group, estimated at around 1,200, tried to force its way into Moore and Cabot halls, but was initially thwarted by Radcliffe women throwing water-filled bags from their windows.

Only by pulling the fire alarm were the men able to enter the dorms while the women fled. Harvard men stormed through all five floors of Cabot--even going through the housemother's rooms--and destroying Radcliffe's boast that "a man never has been above the first floor of the dormitories."

"A man is in my bed," screamed a 'Cliffie as she ran.

Other men grabbed panties and pajamas during the raid.

While most of the Harvard men received no punishment for their violation of the parietal rules, two were expelled and another 13 were placed on probation after another disruption five days later before the Yale football game.

The gravity of the infraction was summarized by Dean Wilbur J. Bender. The rioting disrupted traffic, attracted unruly hangers-on, put people in danger and went against the wishes of Radcliffe women. But he allowed that some such escapades might be necessary.

"It can be a nice release for Harvard students to serenade Radcliffe, if the men can stop at that," Bender said.