In his new memoir, Source Code, Bill Gates opens up about a troubling incident during his sophomore year at Harvard University that nearly led to his expulsion. Although Gates is widely known for dropping out of Harvard in his junior year, this lesser-known story reveals a time when he found himself in serious trouble with the school’s Administrative Board.
Gates was studying for his spring finals when he received an unexpected phone call from a school official. The official requested to meet with him the next day, and Gates immediately suspected the reason: his excessive use of the school’s computer lab.
At the meeting, Gates learned that he had spent 711 hours in the Aiken Computation Laboratory, a facility funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. What made matters worse was that Gates had brought in two “unauthorized” individuals — one of whom was Paul Allen, his future business partner at Microsoft, who had never been enrolled at Harvard. They were working on a commercial computing project.
After the meeting, Gates had to surrender his key to the lab and was informed that his case would be brought before the school’s Administrative Board. He soon realized the gravity of the situation. His senior tutor explained that the board could expel him and even erase his academic record if they deemed his actions severe enough.
To avoid expulsion, Gates wrote a letter to the Administrative Board, explaining his side of the story. In the letter, he defended his actions, criticized the lack of oversight in the lab, and expressed his belief that microcomputers would play a key role in the future. However, after consulting with his father, Gates softened his approach, ending the letter with more apologies.
One week later, the Administrative Board’s decision came in: Gates was formally “admonished” for improperly using the lab, but he avoided any punishment or further consequences.
In an interview about his memoir, Gates reflected on why he hadn’t shared this story sooner. He admitted that the incident wasn’t “that big a deal” in hindsight and only became relevant when diving into details about his life. He emphasized that while he has spoken about his past tickets and a 1977 speeding arrest in Albuquerque, the Harvard episode was simply a “misunderstanding.”
Gates acknowledged that he faced both successes and challenges, but in this case, it was a near-miss that ended without significant fallout. Source Code is now available for readers.
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