John Harvard Turns Green

A traditional pre-Dartmouth game prank rendered the Yard's Jr. his Harvard statue covered with green paint Tuesday night.

Although no one claimed responsibility for the act yesterday, judging from the color, one could guess.

"It's a tradition. Every year someone tries to paint John Harvard green," said Robert Lucie, publisher of The Dartmouth, the campus's daily newspaper. "One year a group went down and found he was already painted," Lucie added.

The discoloring was reported by a student to the Harvard University Police at 3:02 a.m.

While pre-game pranks are fairly common, especially painting John Harvard, they can often be expensive. In 1963 Yale students painted "BEAT HARVARD" in blue letters six feet high on the columns in front of Widener Library. The cost of water-blasting paint off the columns exceeded $1000.

According to Harvard Police Captain Jack W. Morse, common pranks include snatching Harvard flags from around the stadium, painting various things, and attacking the Harvard Band's bass drum.

William Lee of Buildings and Grounds said the statue is coated regularly with chemicals to protect against such pranks. The statue was cleaned by yesterday afternoon.

For Dartmouth students, Harvard weekend is one of the three long weekends in the calendar, giving them time for tumultous revelry.

All Dartmouth fraternities were contacted yesterday for comment about the painting and given a chance to claim responsibility. All were happy to hear that John Harvard was painted green, but none would say they did it.