The Chapel Since 1940

Because of its excellent acoustics, Harkness Chapel has always been a popular venue for Connecticut College concerts and musical recitals. It has also been the setting for lectures by such speakers as Paul Tillich, Daniel Berrigan, Reinhold Niebuhr, William Sloane Coffin and Henry Sloane Coffin. Religious services were mandatory for students until the 1960s; seats were assigned and attendance was taken by a proctor who sat in the gallery.

Today, the building is still used for music programs as well as special events, meetings and a variety of services. The College has tried to make the chapel more nonsectarian by reaching out to non-Christian groups, removing much of the Christian symbolism in the building and making some of the design elements more secular. In 1990, for example, the cross on the organ case was removed and the cross on the steeple was replaced with a weathervane fabricated from Rogers' original design.