War Shortens Commencement; Program Reduced To Three Days

Contracted because of accelerated conditions from a six to a three day period, the Senior Exercises will be held this year from Saturday, June 6 to Monday, June 8, the University announced, as it released complete details on the first Harvard Commencement in 23 years to be held with the nation at war.

For the first time since the last war the Stadium exercises and confetti battle will not be held, and Class ceremonies will be simplified to include only the customary Senior exercises in Kirkland House Triangle. Alumni reunion classes are substituting brief and serious programs for the more extended ceremonies of normal years.

Yale Game Saturday

Following the final baseball game with Yale at Soldiers Field, 3 o'clock, Saturday, June 6, activities of the Senior Class will begin in the Triangle with a buffet supper at 6 o'clock. At 8 o'clock a concert will be given by the Glee Club and the Pierian Sodality, followed by the annual Ivy Oration, a humorous summarization of the four-year history of the Senior Class, to be delivered this year by Coles H. Phinizy. Class features and "stunts" will then follow, and Saturday's meeting will be concluded with the singing of "Fair Harvard." Dancing will be held in Lowell House from 9:30 to 12 o'clock.

On Sunday President James B. Conant will deliver the Baccalaureate Sermon before nearly 800 Seniors of Harvard College and their families and friends, gathered in the Memorial Church in Harvard Yard at 11 o'clock. The Baccalaureate Service will be conducted by Dean Willard L. Sperry, Chairman of the Harvard Board of Preachers.

Seniors March in Yard

For the march to the Memorial Church the Seniors will form a double line in the oldest part of the Yard, in front of Holworthy Hall, at 10:30 o'clock. Led by the Class Marshals, Loren G. MacKinney, First Marshal, Endicott Peabody 2nd, Second Marshal; and Eugene D. Keith, Third Marshal, and other Class Officers, the Seniors will march around the quadrangle of the old Yard, passing the statue of John Harvard in front of University Hall on their way to the service. Following an old custom, the students in the procession will doff their academic caps in front of the statue of the College's first benefactor and namesake. Upon reaching the Church they will be ushered to the front pews, where they will sit as a body. Invited guests will fill the Church to its capacity of 1,200.

In the afternoon, at 2:30 o'clock, the Seniors will assemble in the Kirkland House triangle for their literary exercises, including the delivery of an Oration, Poem, and Ode. The Class Orator will be William C. Murphy; the Class Poet, Harry D. Feltenstein, Jr.; and the Class Odist, Robert H. Coleman. Leading the Seniors in song will be the Class Chorister, Richard B. Stedman.

Transfer of Class Colors

Transfer of the Senior Class colors to the Freshman Class will follow delivery of the Poem. MacKinney, as First Marshal of the Seniors, will make the presentation, and representatives of the first-year men will accept the colors on behalf of the Freshman Class. After the reading of the Class Ode the group will join in singing the Ode to the tune of "Fair Harvard."

A tea and reception for the Senior Class and their parents at President Conant's home, on Quincy Street, at 4:30 o'clock, will follow the Triangle exercises. In case of rain, Saturday evening's Triangle concert and the Sunday literary exercises will be held in the gymnasium on Holyoke Street. The Senior Spread, to be held in Lowell House on Monday from 10 o'clock p.m. to 3 o'clock a.m. will conclude the Class program.

Phi Beta Kappa Exercises

The annual literary exercises of the Harvard Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa will be held on Monday of Commencement Week, June 8. The exercises, open to the public without charge, will be held in Sanders Theatre at 11 o'clock. President James Phinney Baxter 3rd, of Williams College, will be the Orator; and Christopher LaFarge will be the Poet. A luncheon will be held at 12:30 o'clock in the Fogg Art Museum.

The solemn ritual with which Harvard will surround the award of academic degrees and distinctions on Thursday, June 11, the University's Commencement Day, will begin at 9 o'clock, when the Seniors assemble in the Yard for a procession to the Memorial Church where Dean Willard L. Sperry, Chairman of the Harvard Board of Preachers, will conduct the Senior Class chapel service.

291st Commencement

Harvard is holding its 291st Commencement in its 306th year. There were no graduation exercises in the College's first six years, until 1642, and owing to war, pestilence, and other causes, the ceremonies were irregularly held until 1781. Since 1781 there has been a Commencement every year.

Thursday, after the morning chapel service, in accordance with an ancient tradition, the officers of the University, Faculty members, representatives of church and state, and special guests, all in academic gowns or formal attire, will lead the procession of members of the graduating classes and Alumni from the Old Yard quadrangle to Sever quadrangle, where the morning exercises are to be held. The procession will be headed by Dr. Reginald Fitz '06, of Brookline, Mass., University Marshal and Lecturer on the History of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School.

Traditional Sever Exercises

In a stately custom which has varied little in three centuries, the High Sheriff of Middlesex County, Joseph M. McElroy, will call the morning exercises in Sever quadrangle to order, striking the platform thrice with his scabbard. Other ceremonies harking back to Harvard's early Colonial days and its heritage from the English universities will be the seating of the University President in an ancient Tudor chair; the participation of church and commonwealth officials; the adherence to traditional forms of speech in presenting candidates for degrees; and the Latin Oration by a Senior.

Three students graduating from Harvard with special honors will deliver the Commencement Parts. Howard G. Hageman will deliver the Latin dissertation; and dissertations in English will be given by Jacob M. Duker and Cornelius A. Wood, Jr.

2000 Degrees Awarded

At this time President Conant will award degrees to upwards of 2,000 students graduating from the College and the various graduate schools and special departments of the University, and will confer the honorary degrees. Music at the morning exercises will be by the University Choir, under the direction of Associate Professor G. Wallace Woodworth. The opening prayer and the benediction will be given by Dean Sperry.

The Alumni Spread and reunions will be held in the Yard from 12:15 to 1:30 o'clock, the Class of 1917 Spread in the Straus Hall quadrangle, and the Chief Marshal's lunch in the quadrangle back of Wadsworth House.

Alumni to March

After luncheon, at 1:30 o'clock, all Alumni of the University will form in procession, directed by Chief Marshal of the Alumni, Richard Harte '17, of Williamstown, W. Va., to march to the exercises held annually by the Alumni Association in Sever quadrangle. Parading in order of class seniority, the Alumni will pass in review before President Conant, members of the Harvard governing boards, and the Commencement dignitaries, who will stand on the steps of Widener Library.

After singing "The Star Spangled Banner," the Alumni will be seated to hear the addresses of the afternoon. Mr. Charles Warren '89, of Washington, D. C. and Dedham, Mass., President of the Harvard Alumni Association, will preside over the afternoon assembly.

1917 is 25th Reunion Class

The program will also include greetings to recently created Harvard professors emeriti, and the presentation by the Class of 1917 of the customary cash gift to the University by the 25th year reunion class. President Conant will address the Alumni, giving a report on the major features of the Harvard year and announcing the gifts to the University. President Warren will announce the results of the elections of members of the Board of Overseers, Directors of the Harvard Alumni Association, and members of the Harvard Fund Council. Music for the program will be the University Choir.

In case of rain, the morning Commencement Exercises and the afternoon Alumni meeting will be hold in Sanders Theatre, but the Alumni Spread at noon will still be held in the Yard