Commencement Speaker Ill-suited

To the editors:

Is Harvard trying to tell us something? When I first came to school here I had no idea what an I-bank was and never dreamed of becoming a consultant. Over four years, though, Harvard has convinced quite a number of my classmates that in fact these are the best jobs available. The choice of former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin as our speaker for Commencement (News, “Rubin Chosen to Address Commencement,” Apr. 6) seems to only further this notion that nothing is more important than the bottom line.

No offense to Rubin personally. I’m sure that his view as a 60-something white man will be refreshing for undergraduates burdened with a Faculty that is too diverse. However, consider that Rubin’s predecessor was Nobel-Prize -winning economist Amartya K. Sen, and the Class of ’99 got to listen to Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan. Add these guys to our new President ,and it really seems as though Harvard is trying to tell us something.

In a University already heavily weighed down with pressure to make your millions in business and obsessed with the size of our endowment, I wonder how hard it would be to give us a new perspective on Commencement day—something other than the importance of money and the economy. Why not consider a noted ethnic studies scholar, a grassroots political activist, an outstanding teacher, a humanitarian or (dare I say it) a woman to send us into the real world? I hope that in future years Harvard will be able to break out of its narrow-minded rut and, if nothing else, choose a Commencement speaker who can provide students with a different perspective.

Jerry C. Isaacson ’01

Apr. 9, 2001