Nick A. Will, the editor of Harbus—the student newspaper of the Business School—resigns after the school threatened him with disciplinary action for publishing a cartoon that criticized the school’s Office of Career Services.

The English department cancels a poetry reading by poet Tom Paulin after over 100 students and faculty members expressed concerns over Paulin’s anti-Israeli views, but he is reinvited one week later. Paulin ultimately never comes to speak.

December

Ending months of speculation that he might leave Harvard, Chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr. announces that he will remain at the University. It was thought that he might leave after two fellow members of his department, former Carswell Professor of Philosophy K. Anthony Appiah and former Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West ’74, departed for Princeton.

January

Winthrop House resident Marian H. Smith, Class of 2004, dies in what was later ruled a suicide. Smith was an anthropology concentrator known for her vibrancy, warmth and sense of style.

Rohit Chopra ’04 and Jessica R. Stannard-Friel ’04 are elected president and vice-president of the Undergraduate Council by a wide margin. The election attracts the largest ever voter turnout in the eight years that popular elections had been held.

Summers announces a $14-million increase in graduate student financial aid to students seeking traditionally low-paying public service careers.

Harvard officially gives up plans to build a tunnel under Cambridge Street to connect the future Center for Government and International Studies buildings. After months of negotiating, Harvard failed to overcome strong neighborhood opposition to the project.

February

Over 1,250 students sign a petition arguing against the proposed preregistration plan. The signed petitions are then given to Kirby and the Faculty.

Members of the men’s crew team build a nine-foot-tall snow penis in Tercentenary Theater. Two women destroy the icy phallus shortly after its erection, prompting a heated debate over the right to free speech.

March

Nearly 200 students sign a petition urging the creation of an alternative class for Social Analysis 10—commonly known as “Ec 10”—the introductory economics course led by Baker Professor of Economics Martin S. Feldstein. Students assert that Ec 10, which is required of all economics concentrators, has a conservative bias. Barker Professor of Economics Stephen A. Marglin offers to teach the alternative class.

Kirby’s proposed preregistration plan meets unexpected criticism at a Faculty meeting. Several professors voice concerns that the plan would ruin the great educational benefit of shopping period. Kirby subsequently withdraws his proposal.