I take encouragement from the fact that our president, Neil L. Rudenstine, devoted his first commencement address to the inter-play between free speech and diversity. He took up where Bok left off by seeking to provide guidance and leadership on the important questions of tolerance and diversity.

In a carefully reasoned address, Rudenstine said he was "not at all unhappy about the complex mix of ethnicity on campus and the debates, sometimes acrimonious, sparked by the interaction of different racial groups." He observed that "the divergent and sometimes conflicting student voices on campus are often signs of vital, even necessary, controversy; of healthy self-asserting; of different but essentially human growth; of jarring but important moments of sudden discussion and self-discovery."

Rudenstine's emphasis on a broadened diversity marked a point of departure from the rhetoric of Bok, who often discussed race relations in terms of black and white interaction. With the growth in the variety and number of people of color at Harvard (some 30 percent), we must always be ready to reexamine the assumptions and institutions that have informed race relations to the present day.

"People do succeed in reaching across gaps; deep friendships are formed; moments of exhilaration--as well as discouragement--are shared," Rudenstine said. "Day in and day out, University works as a lively, interesting, and convivial place where students and scholars live together and learn from one another."

Editor's note: This piece is adapted from an essay that will appear in the handbook on race relations, which will be distributed to houses and departments this Friday.

Archie C. Epps III is Dean of Students.