The Class of 1952 was one of the last classes to support large numbers of returning veterans. It was not uncommon in a first-year dorm to see a 25-year-old veteran living next door to a 17-year-old. But numbers were down from previous years: just 11 percent of the Class had been in combat, compared with more than half just two years previously.

The Class also saw more exposure to the women of Radcliffe.

The College gave women more opportunities to cross-register in Harvard classes. The administration of the Radcliffe and Harvard libraries was merged.

Kirkland House followed five other Houses in allowing late-night visitation by women on the weekends in order to allow “dancing, card-playing or checkers” in House common rooms.

But when the Student Council and House masters passed a rule to admit the opposite sex in student dorm rooms late in the evenings, Dean of the College Wilbur J. Bender ’27 and the Faculty vetoed the proposition.

Harvard and Radcliffe still maintained tight reigns on the lives of undergraduates—the institutions still saw themselves as something of substitute parents for its students.

“It represents the same old lack of faith in the undergraduate’s ability to arrange his own social affairs, a lack of faith that underlies the present parietal rigors,” The Crimson editorialized.

Harvard men and Radcliffe women were sometimes told to keep their distance. In the Red Book, the student handbook given to incoming first-years in the Radcliffe Class of 1952, young members were instructed on the etiquette of dating.

“It isn’t a Good Idea to go out with an unknown man who simply calls up and asks for a date,” the guide advised. “A pick-up at the corner drug store and unchaperoned calls at a man’s apartment house are Out. As for the man who sits next to you in Psychology, well, you have eyes, haven’t you?”

After an era of overcrowding that packed dorm rooms with classes of veterans, residential life sought to provide the appropriate amenities to a burgeoning student population.

Apley Court, which had been used as overflow housing, was closed and Claverly Hall now received all overflow.

Self-service laundries were planned in Kirkland and Leverett. During the Class’ senior year, Dunster House experimented with student porters, but the tryout proved unsuccessful because students found the job left too little time for academics and, besides, it involved cleaning the bathrooms. The House planned to reinstate maid service the next fall.

The University was urged to build a theater by students in the Dramatic Club who complained that Sanders Theatre was not a suitable location for dramatic productions, and plans were made to hire Harvard’s first full-time instructor in theater.

The picture post-college looked rosy. Graduating seniors were lucky that defense production had strengthened the economy and created new jobs. Combined with the shortage of hands from the recently enacted draft, that meant plenty of employment opportunities.

“Vast opportunities await job hunters in this year’s graduating class, and science majors will be able to practically take their pick of jobs,” The Crimson reported in February 1952.