Different together

A few months ago, a group of 15 or so Crimson editors gathered to propose names of seniors for the profiles that would eventually comprise this section.

At first, there was a frustrated silence. We were searching to find the "obvious" names, the 10 or 15 members of the Class of '90 whose accomplishments or offices would make them natural choices for a Commencement retrospective.

The silence continued for quite some time.

Eventually, someone proposed a profile of a senior whose name no one else in the room knew. And when the story of that person was explained, there was more enthusiasm for including her in the section than for any of those previously suggested.

It was a breakthrough of sorts. The end results of the ensuing discussion are the nine profiles of women and men in the Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1990 presented in the following pages.

These are stories of individuals--nine of them out of a class of more than 1600. And these are also stories of Harvard-What these individuals have done with their time here and, perhaps more importnatly, what personal meanings they have taken from those experiences.

The direct connections between these profiles must necessarily begin and end here, however, for it would be a stretch to find a common thread of understanding linking together a football player from upstate New York with a social activist from a tight-knit Latino community in California.

But the point is that, having been thrown together in the hodgepodge that is Harvard, these students have each created definitions of their roles within the community which in turn give the community itself meaning.

And it is probably no coincidence that many of these profiles tackle similar issues, if not similar experiences. Several of the seniors in this section--Anthony Romano, Carmen Curiel and Craig M. Peck--participated actively in campus public service activities. Other seniors profiles here made politics a central focus of their Harvard years, notably Adam R. Cohen, Cara W. Robertson and Jonathan D. Springer. Athletes Peck and Richard C. Knight are represented, as are academic overachievers (if such a term has meaning at Harvard) Cohen, Robertson and Heather B. Gunn.

such generalized interests speak volumes about the type of place that Harvard has been for the Class of '90. And in the specific stories of these nine seniors, perhaps there is some connection between the issues that have dominated campus debate and those that have shaped personal interests.

As impressive as their accomplishments are, these individuals cannot be classified as the "stars" of theiry year; they are not necessarily the best-known names on campus, nor are they solely the prizewinners or officeholders.

Instead, these nine women and men are linked together by the depth of their interests in making sense of--and making a difference in--the worlds in which they live. Theirs is a Harvard in which diversity--of ideas, of interests and of experiences--is respected; a world in which such diversity is cultivated.