Rules at Harvard College in the 1760s and 70s
Harvard Scholars Faced Fines for Playing Cards, Watching Plays
Oct 15, 2009
In September, Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, made a splash in the news with new rules regarding sex in dorm rooms. The new rules do not prohibit such activity, but just ban it while roommates are in the room.
How times have changed.
In nearby Cambridge, back more than 200 years ago, scholars dealt with quite different rules. Harvard College back then was in some ways like a boys' boarding school because students were so young. The median age of entering freshmen in 1770 was 17. Entering at age 14 was not uncommon. School authorities were rigid and paternalistic.
No Gold or Silver Lace
Here were a few prohibited activities:
- Wearing gold or silver lace
- Making indecent noises
- Skating over deep waters without permission of the president or a tutor
- Acting in a play or attending a play
- Entering a tavern in Cambridge without the permission of the president or a tutor
- Buying, selling, bartering, or exchanging books, clothing or anything above five shillings of value
Also, Harvard students faced fines for various offenses:
- One penny for tardiness at prayers
- Five shillings for leaving town without permission of a tutor or the college president
- Up to sixpence for going beyond the college yard without a cloak or gown
- Up to five shilling for playing cards or dice, with possible admonition or expulsion
Winthrop Sergent and Women of Ill Fame
None of these rules seemed to address the specific question of sexual activity in student living quarters. But such issues did arise. In 1770, the faculty considered evidence that student Winthrop Sargent "did on the 21 of March last, in the afternoon and evening following entertain at his Chamber 2 women of ill Fame, which women were seen at his Chamber very early next morning in such circumstances as induce a strong impression that they were kept there the whole night of the 21 aforesaid."
Sargent, among others, was also charged with breaking into one man's house and assaulting another man--all on the same night he was entertaining his female guests. The next month, Sargent added to his illustrious record by assaulting a deputy sheriff. Sergent was one of dozens of students who got themselves in serious trouble with school authorities in that tumultuous year, the same year as the Boston Massacre.
Kicked Out of College
Sergent and two others were tried by the college president, professors and tutors and found to be "idle, vicious, and disorderly persons, disturbers of the peace of the College and of the town of Cambridge and a common Nuisance to both." They were kicked out of the college.
So what became of young Sargent. He somehow managed to complete his Harvard education, graduating in 1771. He later fought in the American Revolution on the American side and was at Dorchester Heights when the British evacuated Boston. In New York, he helped hold Harlem Heights and cover for Washington's evacuation of the city. He also fought at Trenton and Brandywine and helped cover the American retreat at Germantown. He later went west, and served as adjutant general for the army in the Northwest Territory.
He also served as superintendent of Indian Affairs in the territory. Even later, he became governor of the Mississippi Territory, and also married a wealthy widow of Natchez. In 1816, he learned that his son was about to be expelled from Harvard. He made the long trip to Cambridge and rented a big house. There he entertained the faculty and charmed them into letting young William Sargent graduate.
Source:
Chase, Theodore. "Harvard Student Disorders in 1770." The New England Quarterly, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Mar. 1988), pp. 25-54.
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