Commencement 2021
For First Time in Three Years, Residential Houses Hold In-Person Festivities for Graduating Seniors
Harvard's twelve undergraduate houses held in-person ceremonies celebrating their graduating students for the first time in three years, reviving old traditions and hosting events for seniors.
Following Student Activism, Harvard Hosts Inaugural AAPI/APIDA Graduation Ceremony
After activism from student organizations on Harvard's campus, Harvard held its first annual graduation ceremony for Asian-American, Pacific Islander, and Desi American students in Tercentenary Theatre on Monday.
Harvard Schools Host First In-Person Graduation Ceremonies in Three Years
Harvard's 12 schools hosted their first in-person graduation ceremonies in two years this week.
30,000 Chairs: Planning Harvard’s Triple Commencement
On Thursday, thousands of students, family members, and friends inundated Harvard Yard for the Class of 2022’s Commencement. On Sunday, tens of thousands more will do the same in celebration of the Classes of 2020 and 2021. An occasion of this magnitude demanded careful preparation, administrators say.
Senior Perspective: Gabrielle Fernandopulle
As of June 1, it’s been 562 days since we last competed. But I’ve felt the strength and lessons of my team more so in the last 562 days off the field than I could have imagined. Harvard Women’s Rugby, more than anything else at Harvard, taught me how to learn, how to be a teammate, and how to be brave.
Senior Perspective: Matt Thomas
It’s a strange thing to have the last 75 games of your collegiate career cancelled. In fact, during my four years, I only played in one-third as many. The Harvard Baseball Team has been such a core part of my identity in college, so I struggled to find direction and purpose when it was taken away. What did it mean to be a Harvard baseball player if we didn’t play any games?
Pete Buttigieg Delivers Harvard Kennedy School Graduation Speech
U.S. Secretary of Transportation and former presidential candidate Peter P. M. Buttigieg ’04 emphasized the generation-defining nature of the current political moment in a speech at the Harvard Kennedy School’s virtual graduation ceremony Thursday.
Warren Urges Harvard Law School Graduates to ‘Have Courage,’ Pursue Lives of Public Service
Harvard Law School professor emerita and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth A. Warren (D-Mass.) urged the Law School’s 2021 graduating class to “have courage” as they considered their long careers ahead in a speech at the school’s virtual Class Day ceremony Wednesday.
Bacow Confers 1,292 College Degrees in Harvard’s Second Virtual Graduation; Speaker Ruth Simmons Urges Grads to ‘Be a Force for Inclusion’
Harvard awarded 2,440 degrees across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at its second consecutive virtual Commencement ceremony Thursday, including 1,292 degrees to the College’s Class of 2021.
Anticipating Fall Return to Campus, Students Reflect on the Impact of Off-Campus Living During Covid-19
Though during any typical year students would not hesitate to accept their spot in their House, this year students must weigh the benefits of residential House life — a hallmark of the Harvard College experience — with newfound joys they experienced living outside the Harvard bubble.
Harvard’s Hard Reset Is Our Shot at a New Normal
We are the architects of post-pandemic Harvard; we must use this opportunity wisely, thinking carefully about which structures to tear down and which to build up.
Lessons for the Journey Ahead
Tomorrow is a new day to put your passions into motion, and to be an advocate for equity. Congratulations again, Class of 2021 — I am proud of you and look forward to seeing what you do next!
‘A Real Power Imbalance’: Conflict Within Cambridge City Government
On May 11, during an otherwise ordinary meeting of the Finance Committee, a dispute erupted between the Cambridge city manager and a city councilor. Disputes like this are common as the balance of power has shifted toward the former in recent decades.
‘God Only Knows’: As Sea Level Rise Threatens Harvard and Greater Boston Area, Experts Mull Mitigation Strategy
As global temperatures steadily increase, experts predict that the resulting sea level rise and flooding will encroach on the Greater Boston Area — including Harvard’s campus.
The Freedom That Is Elsewhere
For those who benefit from a repressive system, be brave enough to reckon with a system that imposes violence and perpetual suffering unto others. The questions are clear and ready to be asked (For example, why are Black and third-world peoples suffering? What must be done to liberate them?). We must do everything we can to solve them. Lives are, quite literally, at stake.
Portraits of a Year Apart
Last Commencement, our Editorial Board faced a conundrum: How could we summarize the past three months — suddenly fleeing campus, quarantining in our homes, coping with a new virus both world-stopping and unknown — through a collective voice, when what ultimately unfolded for each of us was a deeply personal experience?
A Note to Readers: The Last Supplement of Its Kind, Hopefully
The 2021 “Year in Sports” edition marks a third supplement that The Crimson Sports Board has completed during the hiatus in Ivy League sports. This should, however, be our last in this style. And we are certainly grateful.
'Love First': How RuQuan Brown Bounces Back and Makes a Difference
"Studying love is an everyday experience. When you study love, you’ll realize what you need to put first. If I could share anything, if there’s any lesson, if there’s anything about me, it’s one love.”
‘The Most Diverse Class in the History of Harvard’: Meet Five Students from the Class of 2025
The Class of 2025 admitted 1,968 students out of a record-high 57,435 applicants, marking the lowest admissions rate and the most diverse class in the College's history. Here are 5 students from the historic Class of 2025.