Program Marshals Award Ames Prize to Two ‘Unsung Heroes’ of Graduating Class

Program marshals Jade M. Stanford ’26 and Kirthi Chigurupati ’26 presented the Richard Glover Ames Memorial Award — given each year to two “unsung heroes” of the graduating class — to James K. “Jamie” Durant ’26 and Alexandra Fernand ’26, honoring Durant’s pro-Palestine activism and the pair’s Phillips Brooks House Association work.

Stanford described Fernand as a steady presence in the Mission Hill community since her first year, building relationships with students and families that Stanford said had endured “across years and even generations.”

Stanford and Chigurupati traced Durant’s path through PBHA, from joining the Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program as a high school student to later directing summer camps and leading the Cambridge After School Program at Harvard.

But the speech pivoted to Durant’s role as a co-founder of Jews for Palestine, an unrecognized pro-Palestine student group. Chigurupati said Durant faced discipline from the College for his activism and praised him for “willingly” accepting punishment “for what he believed was right.”

“To be a student who protests on Harvard’s campus over these past four years has been an impossibly difficult thing under the weight of national media attention, shifting university policy, and fragmented campus climate,” Chigurupati said.

The College’s Administrative Board drew sustained criticism from faculty and students after suspending five students and placing more than 20 on probation for participating in the 2024 pro-Palestine encampment in Harvard Yard — sanctions that initially blocked 13 seniors from graduating before the College reversed several of the suspensions that summer.

Chigurupati described the Ad Board as “punitive” while commending Durant for his response to disciplinary proceedings.

“Perhaps what struck me most was how he chose to respond to that experience,” she said. “Having witnessed firsthand the punitive nature of the Ad Board, he became a restorative justice fellow.”

Restorative justice fellows are trained students who facilitate dialogue between affected parties as an alternative to punitive discipline. Chigurupati said Durant now channels his own experience into that work, which she said could shape how future students are treated.

“His display of integrity, responsibility, and humility is not only impressive — it is heroic,” she said.