Locusts Let There Be Locusts Coincident with their graduation, the state of New Jersey was visited with a plague of the seventeen year locusts, punctuating the air with their shrill cries. Since Princeton commencement occurs in a grove of trees in front of Nassau Hall, the speakers had to compete with millions of six legged insects. One of the honorary degree recipients that day, Bob Dylan, later penned the song Day of the Locusts in partial response to that experience. In Locusts Parentis One of the dominant institutional themes during the 70 years was In Loco Parentis , Latin for In the Place of Parents. This essentially was a philosophy that felt it was the institution's responsibility to serve in place of the student's parents, setting all manner of rules and regulations to govern behavior. By the time they graduated, all these rules were thrown out, happily, as virtually unenforceable and demeaning to the young adults they supposedly governed. The University they entered as Freshmen (and they were all male when this incident occurred) required them to wear coats and ties to Sunday dinner; women were prohibited in the dorms after specified hours each night (9:00 p.m. weeknights; midnight on weekends)-- a practice known as parietals. Students were also prohibited from using automobiles within a certain distance from campus, purportedly the result of a drunken auto accident many years prior. Rules were made to be broken, and few can forget a fire one weekend, when the firemen placed a ladder against a third floor window of Patton Hall. Who should emerge first but three young ladies, dressed in their nightgowns (mind you, Princeton was still All Male at the time). The Dean of Students is reported to have told the residents of the dorm, "Boys, President Goheen will be here shortly. I'm sure he would not wish to see young ladies at this hour, especially in their current state of attire." However, the impact of In Loco Parentis was not forgotten, and at the time of their Twentieth Reunion, the Class adopted the theme of In Locusts Parentis to denote not only this administrative practice but also their camaraderie with the locusts of 1970.