Administrators Welcome Class of 2007

First-years with the jitters weren’t the only ones up late Saturday night.

University President Lawrence H. Summers told the Class of 2007 yesterday that he, too, was awake until 1 a.m.—playing ping-pong with one of his oldest friends, a parent of a student in this year’s first-year class.

Summers shared the anecdote in his keynote address at yesterday’s opening exercises, stressing the importance of forming friendships here. After talking to alums at Harvard reunions, he said, it was “striking how many people formed their most important friendships at Harvard.”

The hour-long ceremony marked the official beginning of Harvard’s 368th year, as members of the Class of 2007 and their families packed a sunny Tercentenary Theater to hear speeches by Summers, Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71, Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley Nathans and Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby.

Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, Radcliffe Choral Society, Harvard Glee Club and Harvard Band performed throughout the exercises.

Summers recognized the talent and diversity of the Class of 2007 in his remarks, urging students to take advantage of their new environment.

Summers’ speech included his traditional tales of the time he was asked for Harvard identification at The Coop when his presidency began and President Harry S. Truman’s reflections on the United States Senate—“The first six months I wondered why I was there. And ever after, I wondered why all the rest of them were there.”

Summers also urged students not to forget about life outside of the University’s gates.

“We are at a hinge in the history of this world,” he said.

Gross, speaking at his first opening exercises as dean of the College, began the ceremony by pointing out that a member of the Class of 2007 could end up being an alumni speaker at Harvard’s quadricentennial in 2036. He put in a request in advance, asking the potential speakers to save him a seat.

He encouraged first-years to use freshman seminars to get to know professors, reminding them that he and Summers will be offering seminars of their own this year.

Kirby reminded students of their importance to the greater University.

“Undergraduates still determine the character of this place,” he said.

Students are “here at a special time,” he said, in the midst of a curricular review “to rethink what it means to be educated.”

Kirby ended his remarks with an attempt to calm first-years’ fears that their acceptance was an admissions office glitch.

“We don’t make mistakes,” he said.

—Staff writer Jenifer L. Steinhardt can be reached at steinhar@fas.harvard.edu.