Commencement

For the first time since 1973 all three traditional commencement speeches--the Latin address and both the graduate and undergraduate English speeches--will be delivered.

For the past five years the speeches have not met the criteria set by the Committee on Commencement Parts, Henry J. Steiner '51, professor of Law and chairman of the committee, said yesterday. "If none of the speeches are of the quality we are looking for then that particular part of commencement will not take place," he added.

Thomas A.J. McGinn '78 will deliver this year's Latin speech. The graduate English speaker will be Gregory Lipscomb, and Harry J. Elam Jr. '78 will deliver the undergraduate speech.

The speeches are supposed to reflect one's personal experience at Harvard, Elam said yesterday. "Basically, mine is about love, my grandfather and Harvard. For me the speech is something very personal and allowed me to give more meaning to my grandfather's life," he said.

The Committee, composed of eight faculty members, two undergraduates and one graduate student, reviews the written manuscripts and then asks some students to read their submissions aloud to the committee before making its final selections.