"The advent of the Internet can help bridge communities, but it's not a cure-all." Bane said. "I think that makes people-to-people contact that much more important now."

Several panelists said that the non-profit sector has plenty of room for improvement.

"We have to have the fortitude to say that certain non-profits shouldn't be in place, and that others should take their place," said Kelly Fitzimmons, the co-founder of New Profit Incorporated.

John L. Warner '59 said the quality of the discussions exceeded his expectations and went beyond simple idealism.

"I expected the people to be a bunch of bureaucrats," Warner said. "They were less phony than I expected them to be."

The emotional culmination of the festivities came when Rev. Peter J. Gomes, Plummer professor of Christian morals, talked eloquently and wittily about Lee Smith's great contributions to PBHA.

"Great revisions of the social order have come and gone and Lee has remained," Gomes quipped.

He added on a serious note, "She has seen so many changes in the styles and focus and direction of this house."