She Found Her Calling—and a Call from Summers

Molly C. Wilson ’06 was out when the red phone in her dorm room rang.

“Is Molly there?” asked the caller, who spoke in a voice that is well-known around campus.

When Wilson returned, her roommate told her, “Oh my God, Larry just called!”

University President Lawrence H. Summers had phoned to say he thought “Shaniqua,” a flash animation created by Wilson, was funny. (Summers, through a spokesman, confirmed that he had called Wilson.)

In “Shaniqua”, a caricature of Summers raps the lyrics “Shaniqua don’t live here no more”—a line taken from the hit single by hip-hop artists Little T and One Track Mike. Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz also makes a guest appearance—in caricature form—in the animation.

Wilson has already wowed University administrators with her wit and her technical skills. But those who know her only as the force behind “Shaniqua” will see her in person today as she delivers the female Harvard Oration—the more serious of the seniors’ Class Day speeches—in Tercentenary Theatre.

“Shaniqua” is just one of Wilson’s many creations. The Minneapolis, Minn., native taught herself web design freshman year because she was “sick of Dorm Crew.” Since then, Wilson has created websites for professors and Harvard courses as well as redesigned the website for Leverett, her house. She also created the cover of the Committee on Undergraduate Education’s 2004-2005 course evaluation guide.

After mastering the art of web design herself, she turned toward animation sophomore year—taking Visual and Environmental Studies classes on the subject.

She also threw herself into Leverett life and became publicity chair of the House Committee.

“Pretty much anything you can do around Leverett House I’ve done. I live in the dining hall, I help pick tutors,” she says.

She welded her Leverett spirit and animation talent together in a May 2004 video, “The End of the Harvard,” that takes swipes at rival Houses.

The video begins with Russian monks burning down Lowell’s belltower—presumably in retaliation for the House’s refusal to return its bells to the St. Danilov Monastery from which they came. The monks steal Adams House’s prized gong, initiating an apocalyptic conflict.

The video also mocks Kirkland House’s alleged Francophile tendencies—its House master, Tom Conley, is also Harvard’s director of graduate studies in French. And Wilson pokes fun at Mather’s industrial architecture by portraying House residents as crazed Soviet soldiers.

“Us Leverett House will just have to deal with breaking off from the rest of Harvard,” Wilson’s video concludes.

And, in a fitting conclusion to a College career marked by Leverett pride, Wilson is the recipient of the House’s David McCord prize for “artistic contributions” to Leverett.

The McCord award is not the only honor she’s racked up this past year. In October, she won the jury prize for best student animation at the New England Film and Video Festival. Her submission, “Wish you were Here,” is less slapstick than her Harvard-oriented animations—focusing on travel and nostalgia, Wilson also won the History and Science Department’s Rotschild Prize for best undergraduate thesis. She wrote on bird migration.

After graduating, Wilson and her roommate are headed to Mexico for 10 days to celebrate. Afterwards, she will be teaching high school science and computers at the International School of Stavanger, Norway. Her long-run plans include pursuing a Ph.D. in history.

—Staff writer Doris A. Hernandez can be reached at dahernan@fas.harvard.edu.