July-August 2007 > John Harvard's Journal

Commencement 2007

“An experiment in faith”

The second president of Radcliffe, Le Baron Briggs, described Radcliffe as “an experiment in faith.”…

From the very beginning of Elizabeth Cary Agassiz’s inspiration, to the vision of Mary Ingraham Bunting…to the foresight of Neil Rudenstine, Radcliffe has always represented a commitment of faith—to intellectual excellence and to the principle of opening access to higher education to all who are talented enough to benefit from it.

I owe an enormous debt to all of them, and I owe an enormous debt to all of you. My commitment to this “experiment in faith” will remain unfaltering. I have loved being Radcliffe’s founding dean, and I thank you all for giving me this opportunity and helping me all along the way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this.