Crimson Has a Happy 125th

Capping a year of notable changes, the Harvard Crimson celebrated its 125th anniversary May 8 through 10, drawing more than 400 alumni back to Cambridge.

With 86 executives and a total staff of 400, the Crimson now has the largest staff in its history. Last fall, thanks to profits from advertising, the paper inaugurated free delivery to all undergraduate dorm rooms. At the same time, it changed its production schedule from six days a week to five. And in February, to increase access for lower-income students, the paper launched a pilot financial-aid program for undergraduates eligible for the Federal Work Study Program.

The official celebration began January 24 with a special edition that reprinted the paper's inaugural staff editorial, "I Will Not Philosophize, I Will Be Read," which had run exactly 125 years earlier. The anniversary weekend's program featured an array of Crimson-trained luminaries. A panel discussion in Sanders Theatre on "Journalism Today," for example, included New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis '48, NF '57, former White House counsel C. Boyden Gray '64, and U.S. News and World Report editor James Fallows '70. During the formal dinner at the Kennedy Library, past editors, including former secretary of defense Caspar W. Weinberger '38, J.D. '41, regaled the guests with tales of the Crimson in their time. Current Crimson president Matthew W. Granade '99 said the celebration "was a really humbling experience. It taught us that we are a part of something much bigger than ourselves, in a way we don't realize day to day."

~ Sewell Chan '98