Bok, Horner Tell Class To Combat Problems

Before a packed Memorial Church, President Bok and Radcliffe President Matina S. Horner yesterday urged the Class of '88 to balance careers with social service.

Also on the program of the Baccalaureate Service, which is a tradition dating back to Harvard's earliest years, were organ preludes, hymns, and brief Bible readings by members of the class.

In his speech to the graduates, Bok said that in today's society there is a conflict between the desire for financial security and concern for social issues.

"How can you reconcile social concerns with the desire to succeed in a highly competitive world?" Bok asked the audience.

The president called on the graduates to stay away from pursuing financial security alone. "Real happiness will never come without engaging ourselves in an effort to help people who are less fortunate than we are," Bok said.

He said the intention of attaining security before going on to help solve social problems--such as making a donation to charity--is not realistic. Unless people are concerned from the beginning of their careers with helping others, Bok said, they will never feel secure enough to shift their atten- tion to social matters or they will loseinterest by the time they have reached such apoint.

But Bok conceded that it is unrealistic toexpect people to sacrifice their comfort by takinglow-paying or volunteer jobs for social causes.

He concluded, therefore, that the Class of '88should strike a compromise between the two goals."There are many ways in this country to combinesecurity and charity," since even professionalscan undertake projects of social value, he said.

Bok pointed to reforms since his years incollege, when segregation and anti-Semitism wereprominent. "We are far better off than we werethen, thanks to the people who didn't write-offthe problems as insurmountable," he said.

Ending his speech, Bok told the class, "I hopeyou will succeed not only in your careers, but toleave the world a much better place than you foundit."

Horner described a world recently changed byadvanced technology and the new role of women,"propelling us into an age of interdependence, anage for which we are not fully prepared." She saidtechnology has made society more international andthe two-income household has created economicinterdependence between men and women.

The Radcliffe president said the class willalso be facing "a world in danger" from poverty,illiteracy, AIDS, and environmental destructionand in which "considerably more heat than lighthas been shed on these issues."

However, Horner, who will be leaving herRadcliffe post at the end of the next academicyear, said she had confidence that the Class of'88 would be able to effect significant change inhelping to solve these problems