In a staid, well-spoken address at Kennedy School of Government (KSG), Red Cross President Elizabeth H. Dole exhorted graduating students to be "leaders, not labels."

"Beware of the ubiquitous labels we pin on public servants," she told a quiet crowd of students and faculty at the ARCO Forum for the school's Class Day ceremonies.

She said not-for-profit organizations like the Red Cross depend on flexibility. Dividing public servants between Republican and Democrat, liberal and conservative distorts their common goals, Dole told the packed audience.

Dole was the choice of graduating students, who were polled earlier in the year for their speaker preferences.

KSG Dean Joseph S. Nye Jr. said that Dole was a "role model for the type of lives they'd like to live in public service."

Dole's speech touched on a variety of other subjects, from restructuring at the Red Cross to her concern with the current state of politics.

Dole said public trust in elected officials has fallen and that people expect less from government. Non-governmental and not-for-profit organizations must step in to fill the gap, she said.

"Government alone cannot fill the vacuum of traditional community," Dole said.

She said that not-for-profits are more proficient at fulfilling community needs anyway. "They are rooted in the community, and pick up local needs earlier and more accurately," she said.

But Dole, who served as secretary of transportation under President Reagan and secretary of labor under President Bush, said politics is an honorable profession and that she hoped public confidence in government would revive.

Dole's roots at Harvard go back more than 30 years. Dole graduated from Harvard Law School in 1965 after attending Duke University.

She began her political career as a Democrat in Lyndon B. Johnson's White House, but by 1975--when she married former Senator and 1996 Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole--she had switched to the GOP.

But Dole said she had difficulties as a woman gaining acceptance in the masculine world of law and politics.

While registering for her first day of law school at Langdell Hall, a classmate--who she identified only as a current member of a prestigious Washington law firm--asked her why she was taking a spot at the Law School that could be filled by men "who could use their legal education."

The incident is "forever emblazoned upon my mind," she said.

Graduating Kennedy School students said they were impressed by Dole.

"I was really impressed with what she's done," said Theresa L. Duggan, who will receive a masters degree in public planning (MPP) today.

"She's an impressive role model," agreed Amy A. Barber, who also will receive an MPP today.