Like the balance between opposites in the title of her English Oration, “Perfect Imperfection,” Alicia Menendez ’05 strikes one as direct and discrete when she describes her experience at Harvard.

Asked about what inspired her speech, Menendez points to the controversial remark University President Lawrence H. Summers made earlier in the year about women in the sciences. But she quickly puts in a disclaimer against potential stereotypes.

“I think he received more backlash than he deserved, and I’m speaking as a Women’s Studies concentrator,” she says.

Summers’ public debacle got her thinking what society expects of a Harvard graduate, a theme Menendez developed into her speech for today’s Commencement exercises.

“Society holds people who are affiliated with this university to a high but often unattainable standard. Harvard is not perfect, people who go to Harvard are not perfect, but there is worth in the imperfection,” she says.

Despite the positive tilt of her message, Menendez says she was “absolutely surprised” by the selection of her speech.

“It has an element that is very critical of the University. I thought it might get misread solely as a critique of Harvard, or a pity party where one feels bad for herself because she goes to Harvard College,” says Menendez.

In talking of Harvard’s imperfections, a culture of male dominance tops her list.

This culture, which she addresses in her senior thesis, “To Whom Many Doors are Still Locked: Gender, Space and Power in Harvard Final Clubs,” is a problem much deeper than “a matter of being treated as an equal,” she says.

“Establishing yourself as a big man on campus is pretty formulaic, but there is no such woman at Harvard who has done that to a positive capacity,” Menendez says.

A BUSY BEE

Menendez writes about the culture of male dominance, but she is the former president of the campus’s oldest existing female final club, The Bee.

Menendez has also co-directed The Vagina Monologues and successfully run Undergraduate Council campaigns for Rohit Chopra ’04 in 2001 and Tracy “Ty” Moore II ’06 and Ian W. Nichols ’06 in 2004.

“Because I knew that public service would be a part of my life, at Harvard I did a lot of other things that I wouldn’t have a chance to do after graduation, like theater and being a part of a women’s social organization,” says Menendez.

Menendez’s mix of tact and directness is well-known among her friends, who have described her as both an articulate speaker and a diplomat.

“One day she stopped by my room, sat me down on my bed and said, ‘I think we should block together. I think we’re going to be lifelong friends.’ I was struck by her direct manner but never doubted her for a second,” Cailin E. Goldberg-Meehan ’05 writes in an e-mail.

Her forthright personality does not interfere with her judgment of propriety, according to her friends.

“A true diplomatist, I’ve seen her bite her tongue at dinner with Republican parents, but never in a way that makes one think she is compromising her views,” Goldberg-Meehan wrote.

Her friends emphasize her fun side as well, describing Menendez as a “participant-observer” who always keeps a keen grasp on circumstances.

“That’s the thing—Alicia manages to partake and enjoy; but when things are out of control, potentially dangerous or embarrassing, she’s the first one to react,” writes Manuela L. Zoninsein ’05 in an e-mail.

But, reflecting on her time at Harvard, Menendez recalls, “My experience here has been alternately horrible and wonderful. What is consistent is my phenomenal friends.”

Her friends, in turn, gush about Menendez.

“Alicia [Menendez] will do anything for her friends,” Goldberg-Meehan wrote.

PRIVATE AND PUBLIC

Menendez’s sense of balance carries over to her long-term pursuits.

Her father is Rep. Robert Menendez D-N.J., the first Hispanic person ever to head the Democratic caucus, and she says this has inspired her dedication to a life of service.

According to Menendez, her main personal challenge will be keeping a private life outside of her public life, something that she says she has practiced doing at Harvard.

“People here are used to being public successes, but one of the things is how to weigh your personal life against your public life,” says Menendez. “Those interpersonal relationships are more important than any public measure of success.”

Menendez plans to work on John Corzine’s gubernatorial campaign upon graduation, but she has no concrete plans after that.

“I’m going into public service with my eyes wide open,” says Menendez. “I know the enormous joy of feeling that your life has been dedicated to helping others, and also the enormous frustration of public life.”

—Staff writer Yingzhen Zhang can be reached at zhang9@fas.harvard.edu.