In the Summer Swelter

The summer school is hardly the raison d' ether of Harvard University, and some might argue that the two-month term is downright boring. But while this school's hottest session is not marked for its fast-paced student and administration activity, history shows that interesting moments, both provocative and lighthearted, do punctuate the long summer months in Cambridge.

July 3, 1972--Registering for summer school was an entirely new spatial experience for the students who stood in line next to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in town to study Arabic.

August 9, 1974--More than 2000 people (all of them Democrats) crowded into the Square to celebrate the news of Richard M. Nixon's resignation following the Congressional impeachment vote.

July 7, 1976--Sticky-fingered art enthusiasts snatched oil paintings valued at $380.000 from the home of Harvard's President Bok.

July 26, 1978--University archaeologists uncovered colonial artifacts in the MBTA digs in the Yard.

July 10, 1981--Things cooled off a bit when a broken water main flooded the Yard between Weld and Matthews Halls. While police panicked, students swam in Lake Harvard.

August 8, 1982--Several irrepressible summer schoolers opened an exclusive women's leg shaving salon in Weld. In a valiant move to protect the enterprising shearers from the fierce competition that would have undoubtedly ensued, Harvard censored an article on the shaving service from an issue of the Summer Times.