Ack, typo. Was just posting as a follow up to the Dart comment. And @volatileknight, it’s rare that everyone in a thread agrees, as they do here. No one is going to give a rat’s patoot about a B in PE.
Harvard did have a swimming requirement (I think for a 50-yard swim), though it hasn’t for decades. The story was that it was instituted at the request of the woman who donated the money to build Widener Library after her son Harry Widener went down with the Titanic. Harry really did go down with the Titanic, but the rest of the story is apparently not true. I do remember comments being made years ago that the requirement would ensure that any Harvard graduate would survive a shipwreck, as long as the ship went down within 50 yards of shore.