Rev. Gomes Leads Baccalaureate Service

A procession of seniors winding through the Yard to the Memorial Church yesterday, led by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals Peter J. Gomes, began the Baccalaureate Service, the first of the ceremonial exercises leading up to the 1997 Commencement.

Gomes met the column, in caps and gowns, in front of Holworthy Hall before turning and shooing a crowd of parents out of the procession's path. A large number of seniors participated in the service, which included elements of four major religions, filling the church to capacity.

"This is an important ceremony, because it's a chance for the entire class to assemble in the same place and have a few moments together to reflect," said Class Marshal John W. Turner '97.

"We're getting prepared for life's work," said Marshal Vivek H. Maru '97.

The Baccalaureate service is a tradition at Harvard which dates back to the College's first graduating class in 1642, forming "a link between...increasingly secular institutions and their religious origins," Gomes said.

"It's one of these fun ceremonies that are part of the graduation experience," said Amy Davis '97. "It wouldn't be graduation for me without sitting in a church someplace."

Gomes, Pusey minister in the Memorial Church, gave the opening salutation, saying the service would offer seniors "counsel, advice, praise, prayers and blessings from those who have done this before."

Readings followed from the Hebrew Bible, read in Hebrew by Ethan M. Tucker '97 and in English by Kevin C. Scott '97; the Hindu Vedas, sung in Sanskrit by Kanakalalshmi Pattabiraman '97 and read in translation by Christine M. Perez '97.

A portion of the Koran was sung in Arabic by Irfan Siddiqui '97 and read in English by First Marshal Allyson V. Hobbs '97.

First Marshal Eli Aheto '97 read from the Old Testament, followed by a selection from the New Testament read by Amy Buckley Brown '97.

President of Radcliffe College Linda S. Wilson then gave an address centered around the phrase "Get a Life!" which dealt heavily with Radcliffe alumna Helen Keller '04, and wished seniors "a life that makes use of your gifts and is a gift to others."

After a hymn, President Neil L. Rudenstine addressed the seniors, continuing a Baccalaureate tradition of presidential addresses dating from the nineteenth century.

Rudenstine apologized for the "ritual academic confinement" faced by seniors during Commencement week, and quipped that he had searched for an original idea for a Commencement address.

"I saw one headline for a speech that said 'Live life to the fullest," Rudenstine said. "And I thought 'Well, that's original, and it might be good for two-and-a-half pages if I use large type and speak very slowly.'"

Turning earnest, Rudenstine encouraged students to "turn in the best performance you can in life," and said that Harvard's newest graduates should always consider it home.

One senior leaving the Memorial Church mimed a yawn to review Rudenstine's speech, but the president seemed to have impressed parents, who listened to a broadcast of the service in Tercentenerary Theatre.

"It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful," said Winifred Floyd, mother of Lynya A. Floyd '97. "It was very down-to-earth and relaxed."