The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-24
Revolution In Harvard Life.

the last half dozen years in the college life
at Harvard, one that removes many bonds
of interest between the present and the
future graduates of the college, is an
nounrcd by Prof. LEBARoN RUSSELL
BRIGGs, Dean of Harvard College, in his
annual report to the Pres dent OF that
institution. The College Yard has ceased
to be tho centre of undergraduate life,
which has been transferred to TN inferior
part Of the city in and about Mount Au-
burn street Save for I'm occasional visit,
by invitation, to the Dean, or, it may hap.
pen, for a recitation, the great body of
Harvard students has no longer any orca-
sion to visit the Old Quadrangle. Dean
BRIGGS accepts the change with stoical
submission to the inevitable, but cannot
help signing: "All this, though it has come
to pass naturally, causes regret to those
vino remember when "A room in HOlwOrthy
was the goal Of an Undergraduates anOi-
ton and the Yard was all in ALL" His state
causes is as follows:
wow that most Of our students must live outside
the Yard, the college dormitorl's have lost in part
the hold they once had on the Undergraduate
affection. Thus there has come about a growing
competition between college buildings anlllxurious
private dormltores, a com petition which even our
new bathrooms. a belated tribute 10 modern civili'a.
ton, have failed to check. Two buildings outside
the Yard, Conant Hall and Holyoke House, are not
nearly full. aud 1.-THE OLD Quadrangle, though is
rooms are filled. has suffered from the withdrawal Of
much that used to belong 10 It when it was the
acknowledged centre Of undergraduate life. The
richer and NOR, Fashionable students flock TO an
~inter.or part Of the city. in and about Mount Auburn
street. This region, because cheap and accessible,
has become a nes. Of clUbhouses, which the new
private iormitories are conveniently near.
The moro heslthful and attractive parts Of the city
are now looked upon as queer places for a student q
social om,nence to live IN"
To all but the latest Of Harvard graduates
the Deans statement will be startling and
unpleasant news. Living at a distance from
Cambridge, they have heard, to be sure,
that many new privat" dormitories have
been erected and they have heard tales, too,
OF the sumptuous manner in which some of
these are fittod. Some, doubtless, have no.
ticcd n marked d~isproportion between their
sons college bills and their own. But they
have taken all thisas the necessary result Of
the expansion or the university and the in
crease in wealth. They have had no idea
that their sons looked on the old buildings
and the old Gins IN the Yard rs mere historic
curiositics. When they themselves have
visited Harvard ii at commencement time il is
to the Yard they have gone at once, and
where their interest AMI legs were strong
enough. it il the new college buildings
stretching far to the north, that they have
inspected. Even il they nave noticed tail
buildings in tn" direction of the Charles
River, they hav" supposed them part Of the
metamOrphosis of Cambridge from a subur-
ban town into n city. Tina the heart Of the
college lay there, in that outer darkness Of
tenement houses and car shops of their day,
they certainly did not suspect,
The competition with private dormi-
tories. in the intense form il has taken Of
late at least, is a new problem for the Har-
ward corporation. Such dormitorieS have
existed for many years past. but until six
years ago the cOnveniences supplied in
them were only Just enough superior to
those provided in the best college buildings
To attract fastidious men or such as were
| illSlIIblHlfl VI ''NdllilE l'HllllN III INC
Yard. To modern improvements in build
ings the Harvard Corporation has evcrbcon
avprse, partly through conservatism. but
partly also through an academic regard for
Spartan simplicity. When President ELIOT
came into Office thirty years ago, for in
stance, though the carpets on the floor and
the cushions in the window seats might have
seemed ercminate luxury to earlier graiu-
atcs, the richer and more fashionable"
seniors in Holworthy, as well as their less
favored comrades in tho other buildings.
trampcd up and down their four flights Of
stairs with conl scuttle and water pail, and
chums learned those habits Of mutual con-
ccssion on which all domestic happiness is
built: In settling which should get up first
to light the fire. There was n lot Of rood
and Of fun in the life, and though he may
have grumbled at the time, no old graduate
looks back on II with aught but pleas
ure. II was twenty years after Presi-
dent EL1OT's accession when the most
necessary sanitary appliances were first pro-
vided for Hollis and %Stoughton Halls. and
now, after thirty years, though an earnest
advocate OF frequent bathing and repro
bator OF student negligence in that regard,
the President announces another concession
to luxury in this regretful strain:
The deficit lis caused by the heavy cot OF mt.
ting bathrooms into all the dormitories in the
College Yard and into College House .'s
"a certain college fund has really been paid ont
for improvements in the public dormitoriss AZ Cam.
bridge. improve ents which the rising scale OF com.
fort in the community at large has compeIled thu
corporation to adopt"
When even the Dean Of Harvard College
in an official report cnn poke fun ut the cor
poration's bathrooms as " a bcleted tribute
to modern civilization, It is not to be won
der"d ~ the student, who IL accustomed TO
some home comforts, should close his heart
to sentiment and invest his money whore
he can obtain some adequate return.
Six years ago the Arcadian simplicity OF
Cambridge was invaded by aggressive spec.
~ulators. From "a world where electricity
and elevators and steam heat and hot and
cold water and efficient service and private
bathrooms were known they swooped down
on q nsphtha-ligh,ei Harvard that still