Word: fairness
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...crimson wool jackets ran around school playing the same fight songs over and over again at reunions, Class Day and Commencement. The band helped to provide the appropriately festive atmosphere for all the hellos and good-byes. My favorite part of these sentimental performances was the singing of "Fair Harvard." Seniors, alums and other band members not playing at the moment would drape their arms around each other and slowly sway from side to side as they sang (and we played). The lyrics were printed in the Commencement programs and were attributed to their composer: "Fair Harvard, S. Gilman...
...instantly disliked the new version. True, the change is pretty minor: instead of "Fair Harvard! Thy sons to thy jubilee throng" it was, "Fair Harvard! We join in thy jubilee throng." Only one phrase in the whole first verse had been revised, a fairly innocuous change. But word choice is not the issue. The words are fine, except that they have been altered...
...woman, I should embrace the politically correct change. After all, the Harvard that sang only of its sons is one that didn't want me in its lecture halls or libraries. It's very different now, of course, but why would I want to keep these sexist lyrics in "Fair Harvard?" Why do I possess this seemingly perverse loyalty to such an otherwise inconsequential phrase? I know Gilman was not thinking of Radcliffe women when he wrote the line, I know that generations of male Harvard students never even thought about the meaning of these words for the other...
...that enables me to tacitly accept the historical connotations of the first line. I am fond of the song for its archaic language, its connection to Harvard's past; it gives the feeling that you are one in a long and honorable Harvard tradition. But what endears "Fair Harvard" to me most is that when we sing it, we do so in the company and thoughts of people who have truly made our Harvard experiences special. The song is almost sacred, and to change it is to hurt it. My own interpretation of "thy sons" includes women. I honestly feel...
...raise the bar for reasonable property seizure. Ultra-liberals like Frank saw it as a civil-rights issue; ultra-conservatives like Barr saw it as a chance to keep government power in check. Both sides were making it clear that in the war on drugs, all is not fair, and yea, there was bipartisan joy in the Judiciary Committee for the first time in memory. Sometimes, on some issues, we can all get along...