History and traditions of Harvard commencements information
Meryl Streep, Hon. D.A. 2010[1](l-r) US Navy Secretary (and Harvard Overseer) George Meyer; Prof. Frank W. Taussig; Pres. Eliot (who disdained academic regalia);[2] Bishop (and Overseer) William Lawrence (1911)
What was originally called Harvard
College
(around which Harvard University eventually grew) held its first Commencement in September 1642, when nine degrees were conferred.[3]
Today some 1700 undergraduate degrees, and 5000 advanced degrees from the university's various graduate and professional schools, are conferred each Commencement Day.
Each degree candidate attends three ceremonies: the Morning Exercises, at which degrees are conferred verbally en masse; a smaller midday ceremony (at the candidate's professional or graduate school, or undergraduate House) at which diplomas are given in hand; and, in the afternoon, the annual meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association, at which Harvard's President and the day's featured speaker deliver their addresses.[4]
Several hundred[clarification needed] Harvard honorary degrees (which with few exceptions must be accepted in person) have been awarded since the first was bestowed on Benjamin Franklin in 1753.[5]
In 1935 playwright George Bernard Shaw declined nomination for a Harvard honorary degree, urging instead that Harvard celebrate its three-hundredth anniversary by "burning itself to the ground... as an example to all the other famous old corrupters of youth" such as Yale.
The ceremonies shifted from late summer to late June in the nineteenth century,[note 1]
and are now held at the end of May.[8]
A number of unusual traditions have attached to them over the centuries, including the arrival of certain dignitaries on horseback, occupancy by Harvard's president of the Holyoke Chair (a "bizarre" sixteenth-century contraption prone to tipping over) and the welcoming of newly minted bachelors to "the fellowship of educated men and women."
^"Honorary degrees awarded". Harvard Gazette. May 27, 2010.
^Boatner, E.B. "Pumps and Circumstance: A Guide to Academic Garb". Harvard University. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
^ abHightower, Marvin. "The Spirit & Spectacle of Harvard Commencement". Harvard University.
^"Morning Exercises". Harvard University Commencement Office. 2013.
^"Honorary Degrees". Harvard University. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
^Cite error: The named reference days was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference feasting was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).
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