Ivory Towers

The Class’ senior year was Conant’s last year as president of the University after 20 years in the position, and the final years of his presidency saw several changes to the academic life of Harvard designed to increase the support structure for students.

In his final year, the College dean’s office was reorganized, senior tutors were added in all of the Houses and tutorial instruction was expanded.

Students began to take a greater interest in the College’s decision-making structure. In 1951, the head of the Student Council asked for representation on all Faculty committees.

Students showed academic progress, achieving the highest rankings of any year on record.

“I told my class at one of its 25th reunion meetings in June that Harvard students had improved greatly since our days in the college,” Dean of the College Bender wrote, “and I submit that the change since the Bathtub Gin and Coonskin Coat Era of the Twenties is indeed striking.”

Indeed the years of the early ’50s marked the triumph of academics over athletics.

The College decreased emphasis on athletic programs. Intramural games between Houses grew in popularity. But to cut expenses, the high maintenance steel stands that had transformed Harvard Stadium from a horseshoe to an oval were torn down over the protests of the football coach.

And in October 1951, Conant joined the presidents of Princeton and Yale in agreeing on new athletic recruiting policies. The schools would no longer admit students who did not meet normal academic standards, and no athletic scholarships would be given.

As it scaled back athletics, the College sought to broaden its academic offerings. General Education, an experiment introduced in 1946, formally became a requirement in 1951.

In its guide to prospective students the Admissions Office boasted of the new core curriculum, where students were able to take courses designed to “look first to all his life as a responsible human being and a citizen.”

With an expanded course catalog came new buildings. Renovations to several aging structures were planned, and construction was underway on a new lecture hall and laboratories.

Burr Hall housed large lectures, mainly for General Education classes, while the new McKay Laboratory offered a much-needed space for applied science.

“Another year, another building,” read one Crimson headline.

Red Scare