University Marshal Retires

University Marshal Richard M. Hunt, Harvard’s master of ceremonies and official host to visiting dignitaries, has retired after twenty years in the post.

Hunt, whose retirement was effective Aug. 30, said he had decided this summer that the time was right to move on, ending four decades of service to Harvard.

He announced his retirement two weeks before it took effect.

“I did it a little bit quickly, but I’ve been thinking about retirement for some time, and I wanted to get it done before the beginning of the new term,” Hunt said.

“I’ve had a long, good, happy term,” Hunt said, adding that he looks forward to using his new found free time to finish a book entitled “Harvard A to Z.”

Hunt, who has taught a Core course on Nazi and Weimar Germany as well as a social studies junior tutorial, is also retiring from his position as a senior lecturer on social studies.

As marshal, Hunt presided over every commencement since 1982, and special events including Nelson Mandela’s visit in 1998 and the installation of the last two University presidents.

Hunt played host to thousands of international and domestic visitors, even opening his Cambridge home to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1990.

He also oversaw the Harvard International Office, and played an important role in former President Neil L. Rudenstine’s efforts to give Harvard more of an international presence.

The marshal’s position has, on occasion, placed Hunt at the center of public controversy.

Hunt remembers the weeks leading up to the 1993 commencement featuring Lt. Gen. Colin Powell as speaker as particularly stressful. Coming at the height of the national debate over gays in the military, Powell’s appearance drew heavy fire.

Controversy returned at Hunt’s final commencement in June, surrounding a speech by graduating senior Zayed M. Yasin ’02, originally entitled “American Jihad.”

Hunt, who served on the committee that selected the speech, said that in the weeks leading up to commencement, he received 80-100 e-mails a day that criticized the speech and its title as offensive.

Hunt publicly defended the speech—which dealt with Yasin’s own struggle as a Muslim and an American—and after a change in title, it was delivered without incident.

Yasin wrote in an e-mail that he is grateful for the troubles Hunt went through on his behalf.

“I consider him a man of great honor and dignity,” Yasin wrote. “Throughout the whole speech controversy, he made it crystal clear that no matter what, I would be able to deliver my speech, as I wrote it, with the title of my choice.

“He just wanted to stand up for the values of freedom of speech and open expression that he believed the University stands for,” Yasin wrote.

Hunt said that during the controversy he told critics to wait to hear the speech, which he assured them was not offensive.

While the title might have caused unnecessary confusion, Hunt said, “the committee was unanimous that this was the best speech” and was determined to stand behind it.

But after the speech was delivered, some were still unhappy with how the controversy was handled—including University President Lawrence H. Summers, officials said.

Hunt said that while he was sorry to leave after a Commencement marked by controversy, the experience did not influence his decision to retire.

“I really had been planing this for over a year, before Summers even arrived,” Hunt said.

In addition to his desire to attend to his other projects, Hunt said he felt Summers should get the chance to choose his own marshal. Summers said in a press release that he would begin a search for a new marshal immediately.

Friends and former students said they will miss Hunt and that his knowledge of Harvard will be hard to replace.

“He’s a wonderful man, a wonderful person,” said Professor Richard Thomas, who sat with Hunt on the Commencement Parts Committee. “[He is] very considerate and very knowledgeable about and devoted to the traditions and ceremonies of Harvard.”

Andrew Bellas ’03, who was a student in Hunt’s social studies tutorial “Leadership and Followership,” wrote in an e-mail that Hunt was impressive both inside and outside of the classroom. “[His tutorial] was widely known among concentrators to be one of the best,” Bellas wrote. “He was an excellent teacher and everyone really loved him.”

Hunt said that his 46-year long Harvard career has made for some memorable moments. His position has brought him in contact with the likes of Vaclav Havel, Jiang Zemin, Yasser Arafat, as well as Mandela and Kohl.

He also remembers being nervous about a visit by a then little-known African leader—Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.

Sadly, Hunt will have to leave behind what would be the best keepsake of his tenure: Harvard’s guest book, where nearly every important visitor has signed in. The signature of Al Gore ’69 sits opposite to the full-page brush stroke of Jiang’s calligraphy.

Hunt graduated from Yale in 1949, but came to Harvard for doctoral work, in 1956, and has been here ever since. After getting his doctorate in 1960, Hunt joined the Faculty, and for the next 42 years held positions in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Hunt served as assistant and then associate dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for 17 years.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.