Making 'Fair Harvard' a Little Bit More Fair

I would like to offer to the Class of '96 the suggestion I ran past the Class of '95 last year, by way of resolving the unintentionally sexist aspect of "Fair Harvard." I presume many in last year's class did take me up on it.

Graduating men (and their parents and guests) should sing "Fair Harvard" unchanged. Graduating women (and their parents and guests) should substitute "daughters in" for "sons to thy."

Thus, simultaneously, men will sing "thy sons to thy jubilee throng," while women will will sing "thy daughters in jubilee throng." The divergence of three syllables lasts not more than two seconds, with no divergence in beat or rhythm, so perfect a blend that most listeners will scarcely notice.

It is, in fact, not a divergence but a wholeness. It preserves the song intact, with half those present singing it as it was written in the innocence of 1836, and at the same time assures Harvard that all her progeny are thronging, not just half, and with blessings surrendering her o'er.

It makes Fair Harvard fair. Otherwise it would be Unfair Harvard.

A number of other solutions have been suggested, but most have been awkward and clumsy, and therefore not solutions. This one works. --Myron S. Kaufmann '43   The author is an editor of   The Crimson