Thomas professor of government and sociology Theda Skocpol, the orator (and herself the recipient of an honorary degree this season, from Oxford University), spoke about the “erosion of the very bedrocks that have supported inclusive civil society and democratic institutions” in the United States and around the world. The formal proceedings got under way Tuesday morning with the Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises in Sanders Theatre-appropriately, the most purely academic and intellectual of the week’s events, featuring the brainiest of the candidates for their first degree. And the distinctively uncomfortable chairs used to seat the anticipated throng were stacked by the thousands on dollies on the asphalt walkways, waiting to be deployed. Work crews in cherry pickers were rigging the electronics. Crimson school banners hung down from Tercentenary Theatre’s canopy of trees, still in spring green. The huge tent had been erected over the platform in front of Memorial Church. The Preliminaries…Ī stroll through Harvard Yard on Saturday morning, May 21, was rewarded with the remembered scene of Commencement preparations past. This year, the oldest dog among American institutions of higher learning is proving that it can learn lots of new tricks.
It will also be a way of giving last year’s honorands and the 2020 guest speaker the full experience of 30,000-plus applauding guests hailing their life achievements. This is a unique Tercentenary Theatre occasion for formally confirming the degrees already conferred on those graduates virtually for emotional closure for them, their families, and friends able to gather again after an isolating 26 months and for yet another distinguished guest speaker. In future years, this will simplify year-end planning considerably.īut this year, thanks to the pandemic, a full-dress, deferred celebration of the classes of 20 falls between the two, on Sunday, May 29. Thus, separate student-centric graduations and alumni-centric reunions are Harvard’s new normal.
The 371 st Commencement, by the University tally, attests to the expertise an institution nearing its four-hundredth anniversary has accumulated in mastering ways to send its students off with a bang.īut pulling off this morning’s iteration involved much more than dusting off a familiar playbook.
Beyond doubt, Harvard knows how to stage awesome graduations-not just the spectacle of the Commencement exercises in Tercentenary Theatre, but the class days, House and school celebrations, and more.