Class Day Orators Chosen

Four seniors with plans to deliver speeches with styles serious, humorous and melodious have been selected Class Day speakers, the Class Day speeches committee announced yesterday.

Sharmil S. Modi '99 will deliver the Harvard Oration, which is always given by a male undergraduate, and Molly J. Hennessy-Fiske '99 will deliver the Radcliffe Oration, its female counterpart.

Noam I. Weinstein '99 will deliver the traditionally humorous Ivy Oration, and George W. Hicks '99-'00 has written the Class Ode, which will be sung to the tune of "Fair Harvard" on Class Day.

A seven-member speech committee chose the orators from a pool of about 40 applicants, according to selection committee co-chair Danielle A. Hootnick '99.

Writers of the Harvard and Radcliffe speeches had carte blanche in choosing their topics, Hootnick said.

"They can be about just about anything," she said. "There was a range of topics from people's personal experiences to their families to world issues and religious issues."

Modi said his oration is about "humility and staying true to things that were important to you as a child" and will reflect on the lessons he learned during his time at the College.

"I came here on top of the world, like I think a lot of people come here, and like most people I was very quickly humbled to the point where I absolutely hated life here," said Modi, a native of Cleveland, Ohio.

"You come out of that slowly and find your little niche," added Modi, who has served as president of the South Asian Association and is senior class treasurer.

Hennessy-Fiske said her speech would touch on women's issues, in particular.

"It's mainly dealing with the challenges that women are going to have to face in leaving this school that are particular to our point in time," said Hennessy-Fiske, who said her speech will touch on the upcoming millennium and Radcliffe's changing role in the University.

Since Class Day planners said they do not know whether the tradition will continue now that the colleges have announced their intention to merge, Hennessy-Fiske's speech may be the last Radcliffe oration.

"No one's really sure, but in case this is, it will probably say something like 'This could be the last one,'" said speech selection committee co-chair Kimble Poon '99.

Hennessy-Fiske, who is also a Crimson editor, said her speech will speak to students like a "voice in the crowd."

"I really wanted it to be something that would appeal more to people's personal experiences and to their unguarded selves than to their finely tuned academic minds," said Hennessy-Fiske, a social studies concentrator from Albany, N.Y.

Other speeches will touch on more humorous topics.

Weinstein, a member of a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization which used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine, will deliver the Ivy oration, the only speech whose guidelines require humor.

"Ivy is humorous so you hope the submissions are funny," Hootnick said. "Some are funnier than others."

Weinstein, who could not be reached for comment last night, has also performed original songs at Club Passim and the Arts First festival.

Hicks promised that his Class Ode--three new verses to the College's alma mater, "Fair Harvard" --will include elements of levity as well.

"It's not intended to be falling-down funny but more to raise a smile," said Hicks, an economics concentrator originally from Indianapolis, Ind. "It's light verse...It's stuff that the Class of 1999 will appreciate."

"I'm not going to include too much rag-on-Harvard humor," Hicks added. "That could go on for 20 verses."

Hicks said his singing experience with the Harvard Krokodiloes prompted him to write the ode.

"We do a lot of writing for the group," he said. "We have to write a lot of original material, and [writing the ode] fits right in with that stuff."

In spite of his musical experience, Hicks admitted he was not familiar with the original version.

"I actually don't know the real words myself," said Hicks, who said he would not have written the ode if he had to perform it by himself. The ode is usually performed by a group of singers from the senior class.

Hootnick said the process of selecting the speakers was especially difficult this year due to an unusually large applicant pool.

"They were really all outstanding speeches," Hootnick said. "We had a difficult time deciding."

In addition to the three speeches and the ode, Institute of Politics Director Alan K. Simpson will address the class of 1999 June 9.