Harvard Tracked the Class of 2001’s Writing for Four Years. The Papers Filled 600 Pounds.

In the fall of 1997, hundreds of Harvard first-years were offered what seemed like a simple bargain: fill out a survey about writing and receive a $10 coupon to Pizzeria Uno.

How Seth Moulton ’01 Began His Political Career in Memorial Church

Seth Moulton ’01’s path from Memorial Church to the Marines to Congress was shaped by the mentors and friendships he found at Harvard.

For the Class of 2001, Summers’ Presidency Began With Both Buzz and Doubt

As Lawrence H. Summers waited to assume Harvard’s presidency, graduating seniors in the Class of 2001 saw both the promise of his power and early warnings of the turbulence to come.

Harvard Reunions 2026

Explore the stories of Harvard’s Classes of 1976 and 2001, from the first women to live in the Yard to the living wage sit-in and alumni whose Harvard years shaped lives beyond campus.

How a Student Task Force Championed Affirmative Action

In 1976, a student coalition pressed Harvard to strengthen affirmative action in hiring and admissions, using research and rallies to demand accountability.

When Harvey Mansfield Took On Harvard’s A’s

In the spring of 2001, Harvey C. Mansfield ’53 decided strict grading was no longer enough.

‘A Different World’: The Quiet Return of ROTC to Harvard Under the Class of 1976

Fifty years after Harvard quietly reopened a path to ROTC through MIT, the students who forced the issue remember a campus too weary from Vietnam to fight — and a faculty still divided over whether the military belonged anywhere near Harvard.

When Boston’s Fight Over Busing Reached Harvard

When William G. “Bill” Fletcher Jr. ’76 stepped foot on Harvard’s campus in 1972, he thought he had moved to a welcoming city.

Yo-Yo Ma ’76 Was Already a Prodigy. He Came to Harvard to Learn.

Yo-Yo Ma ’76 came to Harvard already a prodigy, but classmates said his years on campus pushed him beyond the usual path for a solo performer and exposed him to new ways of thinking about music.

‘That’s Our Job’: How Harvard Students Occupied Mass. Hall for a Living Wage

In 2001, student activists occupied Massachusetts Hall for three weeks, turning a yearslong living wage campaign into one of Harvard’s most visible labor protests.

Before He Became a National Firebrand, RFK Jr. ’76 Was Harvard’s Most Famous Classmate

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’76 arrived at Harvard in the fall of 1972, his name arrived before he did.

Bush v. Gore: When the Harvard-Yale Rivalry Reached the White House

As the 2000 election unfolded into a recount battle, Harvard students watched a national crisis play out through campus ties and dorm-room televisions.

‘A Fully-Formed Comedy Writer at 18’: How B.J. Novak ’01 Found His Voice at Harvard

B.J. Novak ’01 arrived at Harvard with the comedic competence of a seasoned professional.

RFK Jr. Rally

The First Women in Harvard Yard Remember a Campus Built for Men

When women in the Class of 1976 became the first female first-years to live in Harvard Yard, they found both history and a campus still built for men.

‘It Was Him Personally’: How Sherman Holcombe Organized Harvard’s Dining Workers Into a Campus Force

When Harvard management suspended dining hall worker Sherman L. Holcombe in 1976, it pointed to a tray of cauliflower au gratin, prepared too early.

‘Nothing Stops Her’: Jill Abramson ’76 Kept Digging From Harvard to The New York Times

Jill E. Abramson ’76 learned to chase a story in Harvard Square.

A Season of Streaks: The 2001 Harvard Men’s Hockey Team

A minute into the overtime period, Dominic Moore ’03 zipped a wrist shot past the Dartmouth goaltender to earn Harvard the victory in the ECAC Tournament consolation matchup, its final game of the 2000-01 season.

How Fed Chair Ben Bernanke ’75 Discovered Economics at Harvard

As a still-undecided sophomore, Ben S. Bernanke ’75 did what hundreds of Harvard students have done for decades: enroll in Economics 10, the school’s introductory economics course sequence. The decision would launch him on his path to leading the Federal Reserve.

‘Hilarious, Mesmerizing, Spellbinding’: Class of 1975 Recalls Muhammad Ali’s Sold-Out Speech

The Class of 1975 invited Ali to speak at the annual Class Day celebration after Mel Brooks and Bill Cosby declined invitations. Ali was able to work Harvard into his calendar — and delivered a speech that many undergrads recalled decades later.

‘Be Here Now’: Inside Harold Koh’s Journey From Pinball to Politics

Harold H. Koh started at Harvard as a Physics concentrator — before he went on to become dean of Yale Law School and an advisor to Barack Obama’s State Department.

Service and Action: PBHA Becomes Political

Since its founding in 1904, the PBHA has served as Harvard’s flagship service organization — a place where students could give back to their city through volunteer work. In 1975, the PBHA expanded its mandate, inflected with the era’s activist ethos.

How Harvard Lost the JFK Library

In 1963, one month before his assassination, President John F. Kennedy ’40 visited Harvard to choose a site for his presidential library and archives. But after years of local controversy, the JFK library at Harvard never came to be.

When Bill Gates Wrote Microsoft’s First Code on a Harvard Mainframe

Bill Gates arrived at Harvard College in September 1973 as a quiet freshman from Seattle in Wigglesworth Hall. He left campus two years later not with a degree, but with a piece of software that would launch Microsoft and begin reshaping the digital landscape.

The Strauch Committee Considers Equal Admissions for Women

The Strauch Committee — tasked with determining whether to combine the Harvard-Radcliffe admissions offices and deciding whether to continue to enforce gender ratios in admissions — released its final report in 1975.