Moments that make Commencement
After weeks of rain and cold, Harvard ended the 2010-11 year on a postcard-perfect day of azure skies and warming breezes. Most of the focus was on the speeches and rituals of Tercentenary Theatre, of course. But all across Harvard Yard, where graduating students, faculty, families, and friends gathered, there were thousands of magical moments as well. Here is a sampling. A new sheriff in town Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian had big shoes to fill. His predecessor, James DiPaola, had called Commencement to order from 1997 until his sudden death last November. This year, Koutoujian took up the tradition, which dates to the 17th century. Standing at the front of the Commencement platform in a silk top hat, he struck the ground three times with a silver-tipped staff and intoned, “The high sheriff of Middlesex County now declares that the meeting will be … in ooorder!” Koutoujian should have been somewhat familiar...