Student Orators Excited About Commencement Speeches

Avery W. Gardiner’s ’97 parents have already seen a Harvard Commencement.

So this year, when their daughter looked towards graduation from Harvard Law School, she decided to “spice up” the ceremony for her folks.

Gardiner won the chance to deliver the graduate student oration at Commencement today, but even as her parents take their seats in Tercentenary Theatre they will have no idea that she will have the honor.

“I kept it a secret from them,” she said. “I didn’t tell them I wrote a speech, or auditioned for it, or was chosen. So I’ve been giving them a lot of lies the past week about what I’ve been doing in Cambridge.”

“The secret just sort of happened,” Gardiner said. “It seemed odd to bust out in the middle of May that I was giving a speech. But I do love surprises.”

Gardiner’s address is one of three student speeches—one of which has drawn considerably more attention.

Just two nights ago, the speech planned by Zayed M. Yasin ’02 was the top story on ABC’s “Nightline.”

Controversy flared over the title and subject matter of his address, originally titled “American Jihad” but now known as “Of Faith and Citizenship: My American Jihad.”

Several students will be encouraging a silent protest today, passing out flyers during the speech with ribbons for audience members to wear.

Benjamin Z. Galper ’02, one of the students organizing the protest, said the students’ intention is not to disrupt Yasin but to bring attention to concerns about the speech.

Gardiner said that the controversy surrounding her fellow speaker caused her to be concerned that her speech would be mentioned and that somehow word of it would reach her parents.

“I was worried that something would come out about it, but thankfully nothing did,” she said.

Gardiner added that she felt that the negative reaction to Yasin’s speech was uncalled for.

The three student speakers at Commencement—Gardiner, Yasin and Leah J. Whittington ’01, who will be giving the Latin oration—have practiced together many times in the past week.

During their sessions, Gardiner says she’s gotten to know Yasin and his speech.

“It’s really a shame that it’s become controversial, because it’s not at all. I think people will really like it,” she said. “With all the time we’ve spent together practicing, I’ve become quite a fan of Zayed.”

Gardiner said that her speech—like Yasin’s—was inspired by Sept. 11.

Entitled “The Limits of Logic,” her oration will address how Harvard’s focus on analytical thinking is not always enough to understand the modern world.

“We’re taught at Harvard how to be analytical and logical,” she said. “But if we’re going to confront the problems of the world—like terrorism—we need to realize it’s not logical. We forget about the emotional.”

Gardiner said that when she spoke to Harvard students about Sept. 11, she realized they were only focusing on what happened factually—not on the emotional and human tragedy.

“When I called my mother, she just cried,” she said. “Harvard sometimes just takes a little bit out of us.”

Though Gardiner has been keeping her speech under wraps as far as her parents are concerned, she said strangers have been getting performances for weeks.

“I say it wherever I can say it,” she said. “And I think people probably think I’m crazy when I’m running on the street and saying it.”

—Staff writer Katherine M. Dimengo can be reached at dimengo@fas.harvard.edu.