Word: kirkland
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...After the relatively calm administrations of Joseph Willard, class of 1755, (1781-1804) and Samuel Webber, class of 1784, (1806-1810), the university entered what has been called the “Augustan Age of Harvard.” Under the administration of John Thornton Kirkland, class of 1789 and president from 1810-1828, the Law School (1817) and the Divinity School (1819) were formally established. Kirkland also removed a brew house, wood yard, privies, roaming sheep, and the college pig pen from the Yard...
According to Morison, Kirkland was the only Harvard president who was ever loved. As Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, his “‘shining morning face’ was round as a baby’s,” and he spoke “with smiles for accents and dimples for punctuation...
Kirkland’s pleasant demeanor, however, may have ultimately led to his downfall. According to Gomes, Kirkland lost disciplinary control because he was “so nice.” In 1823, student riots and fights broke out over who was to give the commencement address. In a not-so-nice move, he expelled half of the senior class...
...make matters worse for Kirkland, smiles and dimples weren’t enough to manage University finances: the school ran into an enormous deficit. At a Harvard Corporation meeting, a member attacked him for his habit of “ignoring the votes of the corporation with which he did not agree.” Problems with listening and collaboration were to remain a continuing affliction of Harvard presidents. In 1828, still ill from a stroke he suffered in 1827, Kirkland resigned...
...Nadia O. Gaber ’09, a Crimson editorial editor, is a history and literature concentrator in Kirkland House. She is the president of the Society of Arab Students...