Aloian Dinner Honors Hunt and 26 Students

University Marshal Richard M. Hunt knows how to keep a secret. Discretion and tact are his middle name.

As a central organizer and official emcee of Harvard's greatest show, the morning Commencement Exercises, he annually harbors one of the University's most closely guarded secrets: the names of the latest honorary-degree candidates.

Last Wednesday in Quincy House, however, found Hunt facetiously forthcoming about this year's lineup. Was it the perfect spring evening? Or the surprise of hearing himself named guest of honor at the Harvard Foundation's annual David Aloian Dinner?

Whatever the cause, Hunt named names that in the name of discretion must go nameless here. The list boasted the likes of ______, the magazine publisher from the politically prominent Bay State family; and _______, the actor who bulks large on the silver screen and married into the same family some years back. Dinner guests downed the inside dope with gusto, and Hunt's wife, Priscilla, was on hand to enjoy the fun.

Hunt's longstanding support for the Foundation's work in intercultural and race relations here earned him this year's Harvard Foundation Faculty Award, a handsome plaque bearing the signatures of President Neil L. Rudenstine, College Dean Harry R. Lewis, and Foundation Director S. Allen Counter.

"Rick Hunt has contributed immeasurably to the work of the Harvard Foundation," Counter said this week. "He has joined us in welcoming Foundation guests from as far away as Greenland and Uganda. Through his example of courtesy and hospitality, he has demonstrated to our students that persons of all races, cultures, and backgrounds have a place at Harvard."

During his dinner remarks, Hunt, who is also senior lecturer on social studies, shared complementary sentiments that he recently discovered in a comment from a 9th-grader at Cambridge's Shady Hill School. " 'I love to be friends with people who are different than I am,' " the student wrote. " 'It's sometimes harder that way, but I learn much more from them.' I think this epitomizes some of the work that the Harvard Foundation has been doing all these years [since 1981]," Hunt said.

As Harvard's official host, Hunt has welcomed hundreds upon hundreds of visitors since he became University Marshal in 1982. "It's really a privilege for me to do the honors and represent this University," Hunt said, recalling meetings with Foundation visitors such as the late tennis star Arthur Ashe, the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., singer-actress Diana Ross, sports legends Sugar Ray Leonard and Hank Aaron, and Wilma Mankiller, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation (1985-87).

Earlier, Veronica Jung '97 and Julie Kim '97, co-chairs of the Foundation's Academic Affairs Committee, described recent student efforts to expand ethnic studies at Harvard.

The Aloian Dinner commemorates the Harvard Alumni Association Executive Director and Quincy House Master who died in 1986. With his wife, Mimi, David Aloian enthusiastically supported the Foundation's programs and hosted many of its earliest events at Quincy House. In concluding his remarks, Hunt raised a toast in Aloian's memory that set the hall ringing with sustained applause.

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Twenty-six students received recognition for their work in intercultural and race relations at the Harvard Foundation's David Aloian Dinner on May 1. Foundation Awards went to Natasha Dinker Bir '96, Leslie Ann Castelo '97, Kristen Clarke '97, Holly Ann-Elizabeth Foster '97, Veronica Seungwon Jung '97, Julie Chun Kim '97, Carmen Mary O'Shea '97, Andrew Pitcher '97, Faustino Gustavo Ramos '96, Amy Howell Saxton '97, Sarah Seong-Sim Song '96, and Rami A. Thabet '97.

Honorable Mention went to Kurtis Ian Auguste Jr. '96, Michelle Marie Baildon '97, Sewell Chan '98, Nana Ekua Coleman '98, Uche N. Ezekwueche '98, Babak Fardin '96, Kristal Cherrie O'Bryant '98, Mark Alexander Price '98, Bashir Abass Salahuddin '98, Mark Albert Thompson '98, Steven Jason Turner '98, Kaniaru Wacieni '98, and Iee Ching Wu '97.

Evelyn Linda Maxwell '96 received the special Director's Award medallion for her exceptional work with the Foundation.