In this 2008 Harvard College Class Day address, Deena Shakir, an Iraqi‑American Muslim woman, reflects on the historic diversity of the graduating class and her own immigrant journey. She celebrates Harvard’s evolution—more women than men, greater representation of African‑American, Asian‑American, and Latino students, and a female university president—while emphasizing the shared responsibility of the new graduates. Using the metaphor of an "education H‑bomb," she frames the knowledge and critical thinking gained at Harvard as a powerful force capable of combating global ills such as poverty, disease, environmental degradation, and intolerance. Shakir urges her peers to wield this intellectual power responsibly, envisioning a worldwide impact as graduates disperse to varied fields and locations, from Wall Street to the Great Wall of China. The speech blends personal narrative, historical context, and a hopeful call to action, urging unity, truth (veritas), and the purposeful use of education for global good.
Chapters
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, classmates, parents, friends, Chairman Bernanke. Where'd he go? It is the 4th of June in the year 2008, and I stand before you on this rainy day in the shadows of the many great graduates who have emerged from these hallowed halls before us. But how exactly did I end up here? An Iraqi by heritage, a Californian by home, and tomorrow a college graduate by Harvard, I am a far cry from the earliest students of this institution. John Hancock, Henry David Thoreau, Teddy Roosevelt, those whose names are commemorated in the buildings and houses we walk through daily. 366 years ago, 9 young men from New England graduated with a Bachelor of Arts at Harvard's very first commencement. Tomorrow morning, 1,707 young men and women from all over the world will graduate as the Harvard College Class of 2008. A new global generation of students. We come from the sloping plains of the Serengeti, the snow-capped mountains of Norway, the grassy prairies of Montana. Our class is the first to admit more women than men. More African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos than ever before. For the first time in history, our university's president is a woman. We are a different Harvard in a different world. We struggle not for the price of tea, but with the price of oil. We fight battles not against British colonial forces, but against the forces of poverty. Bigotry, and every November, Yale University. We graduate in the midst of immense change. And today, on our Class Day, I, an Arab American Muslim woman, am privileged to represent our class. Look around you. This is the Harvard of 2008. We embrace our diversity, but despite our profound differences, when we walk out of the yard tomorrow morning, for possibly the last time in our student lives, we do so united. We are united not only by the black caps and gowns that mark our commencement, but also by the new challenges with which we are all faced. And the tremendous power that we have to overcome them. I think about this power all the time, and I am humbled by the serendipity of a certain day in the early 1980s that brought me here today. Had my parents not narrowly escaped persecution in Iraq, Harvard University would have only been a distant dream. As bombs explode almost daily in my home country, the only bomb in my hand today is also in the hands of all of you. It is the power of our education, a veritable H-bomb, if you will. And I'm not just talking about the force that seems to somehow obliterate all dating prospects for Harvard women, No. The bomb of which I speak is much more than that. It is the mighty force bestowed upon all of those fortunate enough to earn an education. The apparatus with which to think critically, to act passionately, and to prevent the tragedies of our past from becoming the realities of our future. Indeed, the degrees we will receive tomorrow represent so much more than just the knowledge that we have gained over the past 4 years. They represent the responsibility that we will carry with us for the rest of our years. These are our weapons, not to begin wars, but to end them. Wars against hunger, disease, environmental degradation, intolerance. As we commence our lives beyond this campus, the friends with whom I shared dining hall dinners and late nights in Lamont will be carrying their arsenal for good with them to locations all across the world. From Wall Street to the Great Wall of China. Just imagine the global fallout of the H-bomb of 2008, the worldwide impact of our individual actions as we carry the experiences of the past 4 years to our new adventures from New York to Dubai, Nairobi to to DC. So on this rainy afternoon, as we unite in the celebration of the past years of achievement, let us unite in the promise of the next years of even more. Let us rise to the occasion of our new challenges with an undying commitment to veritas, truth, the spirit of Harvard. Whatever our backgrounds, whether from Baghdad or from Boston, whatever our futures, let us engage the force of our education, our H-bomb, for all the good it can radiate, for all the hope it can proliferate, and for all the challenges that together we will overcome. Thank you.
