“I’m excited, and it’s a beautiful day,” he said. “I’m so happy they decided to have a student speaker.”

The Ceremony Begins

As the band played the music of Leonard Bernstein ’39, the procession began.

Brightly colored leaves drifted down toward audience as the Memorial Church bell chimed.

Gusmorino urged Summers to seize the opportunity provided by his office.

“You have the opportunity to transform undergraduate education, ensuring that our learning need never be confined to the classroom,” he said.

Harvard Alumni Association President Karen S. Kelly ’80 pledged Summers the full support of the alumni body—and especially hers, as Summers’ “former and favorite Ec 10 student.”

And representing colleges and universities, Yale President Richard C. Levin praised Harvard’s international reputation and brainpower.

“Harvard is blessed with the broadest and deepest assembly of intellectual talent and academic resources in the world, and it is to Harvard that the whole world looks for leadership,” he said. “These are mere facts, but, believe me, these are not easy things for a Yale president to say.”

Tradition Unveiled

The ceremony was fraught with Harvard’s rich history—an interaction of new and old.

As President of the Board of Overseers Richard E. Oldenburg ’54 prepared to deliver three insignia to the President—two silver keys, two seals of the College and the earliest College record—he encouraged Summers to preserve Harvard’s strength while also realizing the need for change.

“We also charge you to acknowledge shortcomings where they exist and act to repair them without fear of resistance to change,” he said.

Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation Robert G. Stone Jr. ’45 noted that the symbolic keys unlock no tangible Harvard doors.

But he said that over time, Summers would open many doors at Harvard, “some ancient, and new—to learning, to opportunity, and to knowledge in the service of society.”