Beyond the Exclusive Study Groups: What Ted Cruz (and his Cowboy Boots) Did at HLS

Drunk actor. Video gamer. Staunch conservative. And star student.

All of these titles would accurately describe Senator Ted Cruz when he was a student at Harvard Law School, according to a recent story by The Boston Globe.

The 1995 Law School graduate (despite the objections of some) and Republican from Texas had his fair share of adventure when he lived just north of the Yard. Known throughout campus for both his brilliance in the classroom and his vocal, conservative views which stood out among those of his liberal professors and peers, The Globe reports, Cruz was determined to clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist as soon as he stepped foot on campus in his cowboy boots (which he wore to class). Perhaps this explains why he took his study groups so seriously.

Yet he nevertheless detoured from the halls of Langdell Library when he auditioned for a production of "The Crucible" put on by the Law School drama society to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Salem witch trial (perhaps an attempt to rekindle his high school aspirations to be a professional actor). Cruz played the role of the Reverend Samuel Parris in the play, which was written in the 1950s as an allegory to Senator Joseph McCarthy's hunt for communists. After opening night, however, according to The Globe, Cruz had a little too much fun at the cast party, drinking so much Everclear that he could not perform the entirety of the show the next night.

Cruz's room in Hastings Hall was also no stranger to excitement. The Globe feature tells us that in 1994 Cruz hosted a "Republicans Take Back the House Party," and he would sometimes stay up late playing hours of the popular Nintendo game "Super Mario Brothers." Finally, proof that successful HLS students don't just study all the time!