Looking to the Future

By Debra Bradley Ruder

Gazette Staff

Be tolerant. Be loving. Follow your passions.

Such were the nuggets of advice that Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine and Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson offered graduating seniors during the Baccalaureate Service on Tuesday.

Seniors packed the Memorial Church in their caps and gowns for the ceremony of music, prayer, and celebration, while relatives and friends gathered outside in Tercentenary Theatre to listen.

The service, led by the Rev. Peter J. Gomes, minister in the Memorial Church, included readings from sacred texts from a number of religious traditions, including the Hindu Vedas, the Koran, and the Bible. A sign language interpreter accompanied a reading from the New Testament.

In a speech that drew both laughter and thoughtful silence, President Rudenstine noted that this was the first class admitted to Harvard and Radcliffe during his tenure as president.

"I have already, by virtue of the authority vested in me, signed my own diploma, summa cum laude, and have declared myself -- if you will have me -- an honorary member, in perpetuity, of your incomparable class," he said to a round of applause.

He joked about the concept of a Baccalaureate address: "Every graduating class, as we know, deserves a prodigious, brilliant, soaring, breathtaking Baccalaureate address by someone like myself," he said. "Do not despair. . . . Early this morning, I placed the Gettysburg Address, Bartlett's Quotations, Waiting for Godot, the collected editorials of the Crimson, and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking on the Internet." He said they could be accessed on the Memorial Church home page, "care of the Reverend Peter-dot-Gomes-dot-edu."

On a more serious note, Rudenstine encouraged the Class of 1996 to discover creative ways to navigate one's way through life's predicaments.

Albert Einstein and Groucho Marx led the cast of characters he used to underscore the resourcefulness, resoluteness, and serious wit that can help defuse tensions and resolve potential conflicts.

"The point is that we simply need to be vigilant and alert all the time, understanding ourselves and our own motives, but also understanding the dilemmas and perspectives of the others in the drama," the president said.

Novelist E.M. Forster, he said, called tolerance a makeshift virtue that carries on when love gives out.

"So, my classmates, let us at least be tolerant," Rudenstine urged. "Beyond that, in your best moments -- which I hope will be many -- be loving . . . . Do as little harm and as much good as you can, because without such charity, we are nothing."

Wilson, in her address, encouraged the seniors to experience as much as they can in life.

"Even as you dive headlong into the mosh pit of professional life or graduate school, be present for your own life," she said. "Downloading the art exhibit is nothing like being there yourself, submerged in the water world of Winslow Homer."

She advised them to find work that they love and value, and to avoid getting swept away by the current of other people's expectations.

"There may be safer routes, quicker riches, and less bumpy roads to embark upon than pursuing the work that you love," she said. "But, in the end, life is too short -- and can seem too long -- if you don't keep some of the work and exercise some of the talents that you love in your life."

Wilson, a chemist by training, said she followed a career path that led her from teacher and researcher to science policymaker to college administrator, a path that was not strategically designed.

"Always remember that not every decision that you make tomorrow morning or next week is permanent," she said. "There will be many chapters in your life, and you are the first authors of them."

Standing on the steps of Widener Library after the service, senior Samantha Thibodeau of Scituate, Mass., and Winthrop House reflected on what she had heard.

"I liked the fact that the service included meaningful passages from all sorts of religions," she said while waiting for the class photo to be snapped. "And the speeches by the presidents were really great."

Wilson's message struck a particular chord, "because I've had a lot of trouble deciding where to go with my life," Thibodeau said. "I have two passions pulling me -- theater and medicine -- and I've got everybody's expectations of me. It's nice to hear somebody up there say, 'Just go for it for a little while.' Even if it doesn't work out, at least you can say you tried."