College Fund Exists For Undergrad Coats

It really exists. A fund at the College for an undergraduate who cannot afford an overcoat.

It seems that President Eliot noticed a student without an overcoat wandering around the Yard on a wintery day in the 1890's. The warm-hearted man that he was, Eliot gave him his coat. When the young man came of age, he in turn provided an overcoat for a needy undergraduate and established the Thayer trans mutendum Fund.

Traditionally, each recipient later donates an overcoat to an undergraduate in the succeeding college generation. Thayer recipients also pass on to one another a piece of parchment from the coat that Eliot originally gave to the shivering student in the 1890's.

The Dean of the College, who is in charge of this tradition, says that the present recipient has not made himself known nor has he come through with reimbursement for another student.