Bok, Horner Address Baccalaureates

College graduates today must not let the "dispirited" times into which they are graduating discourage them from immersing themselves in the attempt to solve society's problems. President Bok told members of the Class of '81 and their parents at the Baccalaureate Services in Memorial Church yesterday afternoon.

Citing the feat that students today have put aside idealism to pursue personal success as the most frequent criticism from older observers. Bok noted. "Older generations always look on graduating classes. . . with a mixture of hope and apprehension. The hopes are always the same: the apprehensions change."

Though cautioning that the graduating class is "much too complicated" for such generalizations. Bok suggested that many Harvard students may be "innocent victims of their own success--if you've been uniquely successful in avoiding failures," as he said one must be to be at Harvard, "you are uniquely vulnerable to the fear of encountering it."

Such fear may lead many graduates to look only for familiar challenges, thus narrowing their options, he said, exhorting his audience not to take that route, and adding. "If your efforts for social change are shunted aside till that road is too well traveled, you'll wait a long time."

In addition, the current outlook for achieving both success and social change may not be as bleak--especially for Harvard graduates--as it is generally painted. Bok said, comparing the status of minorities, the condition of the poor, and the prospects of escaping nuclear war today favorably with conditions when he graduated.

One Hiss

Bok drew one hiss from the audience when he questioned the effectiveness of some students who may intend to go directly to work in underdeveloped countries, giving themselves entirely to missionary or social work: "Unless you feel a true call to that sort of work, you probably won't function effectively in it very long."

President Horner also addressed the class, stressing the complexity of the coming decade and the need for interdependence among different groups in finding solutions. She cautioned the audience against adopting "an Apocalypse Now attitude" and cited as a sign of current pessimism, the results of a survey in which 60 per cent of the respondents said they believe next year will be worse than this year--the first time that question has drawn a majority of "yes" answers.

Calling the '70s "a decade of second thoughts." Horner quoted Daniel Yankelovich in describing America's shift from "an uptight culture in a dynamic economy to a dynamic culture in an uptight economy." She cited as the decade's three major areas of conflict "changes in the portrait of America"--especially the growing numbers and status of minorities: women's roles and their movement to the workplace: and changes in the economy, between the U.S. and the world and between the public and private sectors.

Stormy Seas

"Even if your diplomas won't make it easier for you to rise to the occasion, they will make it easier to think constructively how to plot a course through stormy seas." Horner said. She also congratulated the students on proving, by their presence, that "you were not, as so many of you once feared, our one admissions error."

The optional service drew about 600 members of the Class of '81, more than enough to fill Memorial Church, where spectators and relatives overflowed into standing room in the aisles. "Tell them to squish," one usher told another uneasily as the processional began