Immediately, the seniors, dressed for sport, would scramble for the flowers set high in the tree, elbowing and climbing past eachother to gain a memento of Class Day.

In the evening, Seniors and their dates danced and promenaded under Chinese lanterns strung between the trees in the Yard.

The last observance of the Class-Day Tree took place in 1896.

Through the early twentieth century, Class Day settled down, but remained to be a day for the Seniors and for fun.

The President’s receptions moved to the Master’s open houses, the sumptuous spreads became the parent picnic, but the spirit lives in the public wit of the class day speech.

Protest and PR

Commencement’s last fling with disorder came in the late 1960s, and involved a more serious stance than Commencement carnival’s previous incarnations.

In 1969, a student speech decrying the war and calling for student-worker solidarity was passed over in the official selections process.

Coming on the heels of the University Hall takeover, students threatened to burn their diplomas and walk out of the ceremony if the Students for a Democratic Society speaker was not heard.

He was added to the program the day of Commencement.

Radical Harvard was not entirely content. One hundred students walked out of the official ceremony to a counter-commencement where Pearson Professor of Modern Mathematics and Mathematical Logic Hilary Putman proclaimed, “Cambridge may now be the first place to have a true worker-student alliance.”

By 1970, the University had taken measures to keep activism out of commencement.

The Corporation agreed to look into building low-income housing in Riverside if theactivists would minimize protests at commencement.

With the concessions, President Pusey said he hoped “that we can halt the desire of every political or social splinter group to have a say at Harvard’s Commencement. We wouldn’t have much of an audience if it becomes a vaudeville protest show.”

But even the Puritans couldn’t stay away from Commencement antics.

—Staff writer Stephanie M. Skier can be reached at skier@fas.harvard.edu.