A sea of plastic ponchos and soaked umbrellas swarmed Tercentenary Theatre on Friday, September 29th, as students, faculty, and alumni huddled under the downpour for the inauguration of President Claudine Gay. Attendees braved numerous bag and ID checks and waded through a muddy Harvard Yard all to hear the words of their university’s new leader. Barring some Sidechat rumors about a potential appearance by former President Barack Obama, Gay took center stage.
Since replacing former Harvard President Lawrence Bacow and stepping up to the position on July 1st, Gay is both the first person of color and second woman to lead the University. In her inauguration address, she urged the Harvard community to lead with courage and to incorporate diverse perspectives and interests into academic work.
“Harvard has always been a place to ask ‘Why?’ It animates our research and teaching,” she said. “‘Why?’ is the question of scientific breakthroughs, archival discoveries, fresh artistic forms, new remedies for physical and social ills. ‘Why?’ rights wrongs, overturns conventional wisdom, and opens the blue sky of human pursuit and possibility.”
The inauguration festivities began the night of Thursday, September 28th with an invite-only “Arts Prelude” in Sanders Theatre featuring student performance groups such as the Asian American Dance Troupe, Expressions Dance Company, and the Harvard Ballet Company. The following morning, the University hosted an Academic Symposium in the Science Center and John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, composed of six panels on topics including “Challenging Inequality in the US: New Ideas and Approaches,” “Revitalizing Democracy,” and “Looking Ahead: The Future of the Academy.”
Several experts on the inequality panel noted Gay’s commitment to studying the topic throughout her academic career. Previously a Harvard professor of Government and African-American Studies, Gay next became the Dean of Social Science at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) in 2015 and Dean of FAS in 2018. She is also the founding chair of the FAS Inequality in America Initiative which launched in 2017.
In the panel “Looking Ahead: The Future of the Academy,” panelists reaffirmed the importance of inclusivity and varied perspectives within the Harvard community. “When I imagine the University of the future, I hope it is one where moral formation will be at the heart of higher education, with more inclusivity, more access to more people who have never been part of this conversation,” explained Matthew Potts, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church.
Considering Gay’s hopes to maintain the exchange of these diverse perspectives, the panelists acknowledged the challenges Gay will inevitably face in response to the June Supreme Court rejection of affirmative action in higher education. “The academy faces profound legal setbacks to access, including most recently in the Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action,” said Durba Mitra, Richard B. Wolf Associate Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. “In our present, we have had to reckon with the seeming paradox of the unfulfilled promise of higher education, and the reality of the academy’s profound and painful inequality.”
“Obviously, this is the most challenging issue that presents President Gay,” Louis Menand, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English, added, referencing the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action. Yet Gay did not fail to acknowledge the elephant in the room. “[Harvard has] a responsibility to create opportunity by identifying talent and promise wherever it resides, and bringing that talent to Harvard,” she said. “We are still on a journey that began in earnest with President Conant to draw from a deeper pool of talent and provide our institution with the excellence it deserves and our diverse society with the leaders it needs and expects.”
The ceremony began with a processional by the Harvard Band, followed by an opening anthem performed by renowned Cuban saxophonist Yosvany Terry. A series of greetings, addresses, and presentations composed the majority of Gay’s inauguration, punctuated by music and dance interludes by the Harvard Opportunes and Madelyn Ho ’08.
Speakers, including Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation Penny Pritzker ’81, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey ’92, Chancellor of the City University of New York Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, and fourth-year at Harvard Medical School Natalie Sadlak, addressed attendees with great appreciation for Gay’s embodiment of a new and reformed institution. “President Gay represents a new vision for Harvard’s future,” declared Sadlak. “She herself embodies a blending of Harvard’s future and its past, and makes sure the legacy of the university and the promise of new perspectives.”
Healey praised Gay as an expert on diversity and inequality whose ascendancy will serve as a source of inspiration far beyond the University. “[Gay is] a leader whose own life tells us a story, a story of hope for young people whose communities have been marginalized, and a story for all of us about how much better our world can be if every person has the opportunity to develop their talents and contribute their gifts,” she said.
Rodriguez, noting how Gay’s parents attended the City University of New York, offered a similar sentiment. “President Gay is a proponent of increased diversity in our campuses, as she has expressed her commitment to building an even more inclusive Harvard community,” he said.
Gay went on to address her background as a first-generation American in contrast to the experiences of those enslaved by the University at its founding. “My story is not their story. I am a daughter of Haitian immigrants to this country,” she said. “But our stories—and the stories of the many trailblazers between us—are linked by this institution’s long history of exclusion, and the long journey of resistance and resilience to overcome it.”
As Gay closed out her speech, she further emphasized the importance of diverse thought in an ever-polarizing world. “And so must we hold fast to our purpose in a dangerous and skeptical world,” she said. “Far from defending an ivory tower, we strive for a staircase open to all. An upward path with no board torn up. Not only for our students, but for the billions of people who will never set foot in Harvard Yard, yet whose lives may advance a step because of what we do.”
Following the inauguration ceremony, many Harvard students noted feeling prideful of their new president and the diversity she brings to University leadership. “Claudine Gay’s inauguration means a lot to me because she’s the first Black woman president of the University,” Samantha Giles ’27 said. “Her presidency brings more representation in Harvard’s leadership, which I really appreciate.”
Ending the ceremony, Harvard Undergraduate Bhangra, a team performing a traditional Punjabi dance form, took the stage, enveloping the Harvard community with vibrant color and music while signaling attendees to depart Tercentenary Theatre for festivities in the Old Yard. Undeterred by the rain, the community continued to celebrate, viewing Gay’s inauguration not only as a historical moment but also as a step toward a brighter future for the University.
Lucas Cohen-d’Arbeloff ’27 (lcohendarbeloff@college.harvard.edu) and Kaia Patterson ’27 (kpatterson@college.harvard.edu) wish the Sidechat Obama rumors were true.