Forgive Me, a Prankish Senior Puck

Do seniors have a function? As it turns out, even in the era before ID was needed to buy alcohol, they did. Around 1818, a society including a score of upperclassmen devoted to pranks and trouble-making was organized. Medical Faculty ("Med. Fac." for short) was a secretive society with whose membership was restricted to members of prominent east coast families.

From its inception until is demise in 1905, Med. Fac. wreaked havoc all over campus. The members exploded bombs in Sanders Theatre, painted bright red penises on the John Harvard statue, hung chamber pots and human skeletons from lamp posts and regularly stole the bell clapper from Memorial Church.

The pranks got more and more serious over the course of the society's 100 years. Eventually, each initiate was made to perform an act that could get him expelled at the very least and perhaps land him in prison. Fac. played such harsh pranks that membership in it alone was technically grounds for disciplinary action. Presidents of Harvard College repeatedly asserted that anyone found to be a member of Med. Fac. would be expelled. As a result, the meetings were held in secret in an underground room on Mass. Ave.

The pranks over time grew more and more serious. The "doctors" of Med. Fac. stole many religious and rare books from Harvard, blew up the water pump in front of Hollis, and stole exhibitions from museums. At a bonfire that they started, a bystander was trampled and killed by horses drawing the fire engine sent to put out the fire.

Despite all of these serious ^"pranks,^' no member of the Med. Fac. was ever caught. Most believed that this was not because the Harvard administration did not know who the members were. On the contrary, Harvard in all likelihood knew exactly who the "doctors" were. More importantly, Harvard knew who their parents were. Because of the prominence of the members' families, the administration was fearful to call attention to the society by punishment. If the members of Med. Fac. were expelled, many of the most prominent alumni of the university would be angered. In essence, the "doctors" could not be reprimanded because of their money and connections. This "blind eye" policy was not popular with the student body, however, and it was the students themselves helped bring down Med. Fac.

In 1905, a member of Med. Fac., Robert Joy, was tackled by an observant freshman as he was running from Phillips Brooks House with a stolen tablet that was on exhibition. He was jailed by the Cambridge Police. Until this member of the Med. Fac. was caught, the Harvard administration had blamed the crimes on Cambridge townspeople, claiming that these townies had created Med. Fac. as a way to scapegoat innocent Harvard men. When the Cambridge police caught this member in 1905, however, the truth about Med. Fac. was exposed.

The administration was put in an even more difficult place because many members of the student body and the faculty demanded that the members of the Med. Fac. be punished. If they were expelled, however, many wealthy alumni of Harvard would be alienated. In the end, President Eliot agreed to allow the members of Med. Fac. to graduate only in return for an assurance that the club be disbanded.

So, in this way, the era of great Harvard pranks ended. Students have tried a few since, most notably the riots of 1969, but Harvard has ensured the safety of its students by keeping a fit police force and preventing universal keycard access. But by and large, the practice of pranking has moved downriver to MIT.