Second Harvard Speech Replaces Class Day Oration

One day before Amartya Sen delivers the Commencement address to the Class of 2000, three seniors will share their speeches with their peers on Class Day.

For the first time, Class Day will feature two Harvard Orations--speeches given by undergraduates that are meant to be inspirational--rather than a Harvard Oration and a Radcliffe Oration, delivered by a female undergraduate. The system was changed after Radcliffe's merger with Harvard last year, but class committee members said they wanted to maintain the same number of speeches.

"We wanted as many as in the past to share their ideas with their classmates," said Justin M. Krebs '00, the First Class Marshal and a member of the class committee which selected the speakers.

Jason R. Stevenson '00 and Brooke M. Ellison '00 will give the two Harvard Orations and Jacob F. Lentz '00 has been selected to give the Ivy Oration--a comical speech that "tends to absurdity and ridiculousness," Krebs said.

Krebs' words were selected to be read in the Class Ode, which traditionally accompanies one verse of "Harvard, Fair Harvard."

Lentz answered questions about the content of his Ivy Oration with the same humor he plans to bring to his speech.

"It's about three things--College, graduation and soccer," Lentz said. "Make no mistake about it, it has a profound political message that is so subtle many might miss it and in that regard it's a lot like Soccer Dog."

Stevenson said that his Harvard Oration "looks at today and into the future. It has a lot about the Yard."

"[My speech] asks questions such as what will we take from this place? Why will we come back?" Stevenson added.

The class committee, made up of Class Marshals and House representatives, spent two afternoons listening to over 30 auditions. The speeches were submitted after spring break and each person who submitted an oration was given an audition.

"We ended up seeing some tremendous performances," Krebs said.

According to Krebs, this made for a very difficult selection process.

Fellow Class Marshal Terry McGovern '00 added that "there was some arguing," but that they "tried to make it as fair as possible."

He said the committee is extremely happy with its choices.

The winners were notified approximately one week after the auditions, Stevenson said. He liked the process, in large part because students were responsible for making the selections.

And while these seniors have reached the end of their college careers and are eager to deliver their speeches, several said they will miss parts of Harvard.

"I am not anxious to get out of here, but I don't wish the experience were prolonged," Krebs said. "[But] I want these 20 days to last as long as possible," he added.

Lentz said he will miss the intramural soccer.

Stevenson said that "graduation is a bit humbling; it's hard to imagine that we're graduating."

He said he is "working towards postponing growing up as long as possible."