This month in Harvard history

March 1, 1775 — Tory students casually bring India tea into Harvard Hall and nearly come to blows with others still boiling over the tea tax. In the interest of “harmony, mutual affection, and confidence, so well becoming Members of the same Society,” the faculty passes a resolution advising students “not to carry [Tea] in for the future,” so that “peace and happiness may be preserved within the Walls of the College whatever convulsions may unhappily distract the State abroad.”

March 27, 1828 — Corporation Fellow Nathaniel Bowditch lambastes President John Thornton Kirkland, who has in practice ignored many recent cost-saving measures that Bowditch had set in motion. To everyone’s surprise, Kirkland submits his resignation on March 28. The Corporation accepts. Students register shock and indignation over the loss of one of Harvard’s most beloved presidents, and seniors write him an eloquent farewell: “We thank you for the honors which your award has made more sweet, and we thank you for the reproof, which has been tempered with love. [. . .] We thank you, sir, for all the little, nameless, unremembered acts of your kindness and authority. [. . .]”