Hammonds challenges students
Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds cited the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to deliver a message about kindness and community during Morning Prayers at Appleton Chapel. Hammonds, the Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and of African and African American Studies, said that students should stretch beyond their comfort zones to make Harvard a truly inclusive place, and argued that the College’s new “Class of 2015 Pledge” was an important part of the effort to encourage them to do so. Hammonds said that the beginning of the academic year was a time of renewal for those in academia. She noted that one of the changes at Harvard this year was the introduction of a voluntary pledge that asks freshmen “to advance knowledge, to promote understanding, and to serve society,” and to place “the exercise of kindness … on par with intellectual attainment.” Hammonds acknowledged that...