Jubilation, second thoughts. A doctor of philosophy attempts to recover a hat thrown into the air. The photograph is by Jim Harrison.

For Apolitical Times, Many Politicians

Some degree candidates from the Kennedy School of Government wore yellow fliers affixed to their mortarboards that urged people to "Remember June 4, 1989." (Some observers on Commencement day, June 4, 1998, had to admit that they didn't know what the 1989 date signified. The Tiananmen Square Massacre.) Some seniors wore little white stickers that asserted "Students Deserve a Choice--Not Randomization" (an expression of unhappiness about how housing is assigned). But apart from these barely discernible concerns for matters past those of the moment, this was a Commencement devoid of protest or admonition from the young. Not even an armband calling for the preservation of Radcliffe College, although its life expectancy appears to be shrinking (see "Radcliffe Quandary," page 61).

And yet, while virtually no one commencing uttered a public political peep, the marquee personages invited in to say something inspiring or possibly useful were political figures.

Speaking at the Medical School on the afternoon of Commencement day--about basic science research, health care, and ethics--First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton told the new physicians, "You should be able to look your patients in the eye and say 'Information about your genes will be used to heal you, not deny you a job or affordable health insurance.' "

In Tercentenary Theatre, at the same time, the University's principal Commencement speaker, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, LL.M. '68, LL.D. '98, former president of Ireland, recalled Eleanor Roosevelt, who 50 years ago fought for the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see "'Modern Slavery,'" page 60). Robinson saved her most passionate remarks for a press conference after her talk, when she urged the United States to support efforts to create a permanent world tribunal that would make untenable such practices as the use of rape as an instrument of war.

Former President George Bush warmed up the audience in a speech at the Kennedy School just prior to Commencement week. A strong U.S.-China alliance is the key to peace and prosperity for the next 50 years, he opined. Elizabeth Dole, now American Red Cross president, followed as that school's Class Day speaker. She affirmed the psychic rewards of public service, saying, "It's not your blood I'm after today, but your hearts and brains." Former U.S. Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson '41, LL.B. '44, LL.D. '71, made a Class Day speech about politics and ethics at the Law School on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Saturday Night Massacre. Secretary of the Treasury Robert E. Rubin '60 told Business School people to "internalize a probabilistic world view." Attorney General Janet Reno, LL.B. '63, received the Radcliffe Medal at the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association meeting and spoke about taking better care of the nation's children. Former Massachusetts governor William F. Weld '66, J.D. '70, at the College Class Day, compared life to a basketball game. "Don't dribble, dribble, dribble the ball all over the court," he said. "Go for the hoop."

Despite all this political talk, maybe what was on most people's minds were the immemorial bittersweet emotions of Commencement. Sharing the podium with Weld on Class Day was A. Ryan Leslie '98, of Pforzheimer House and Antelope, California, who means to make his living as a rhythm-and-blues singer. "We are united in the wondrous power that we have as a collective body, the power to shape the world," he told his classmates. "But this year when we bid farewell, it marks the completion of a chapter in life, the severance of ties many and cherished, the parting with many friends at once."