哈佛首位黑人女校长开学致辞：改变自己才能改变世界！

 9月4日，在一年一度的开学典礼上，哈佛大学新任校长克劳迪娜·盖伊（Claudine Gay）发表演讲，宣布大一新生正式加入哈佛。

克劳迪娜-盖伊校长在哈佛大学2027届新生开学典礼上对大一新生说："你们每个人都将成为自己，分享自己的观点，为我们的使命做出贡献，从而使哈佛变得更强、更好。"

"我知道这一点，因为我曾亲眼目睹了这一切。年复一年，作为一名教师，我目睹了学生们非凡的转变——他们对存在的各个维度的理解认知都发生了深刻的改变。"

对于盖伊来说，这也是一次特别的典礼，这是她第 一次以哈佛大学校长的身份进行开学致辞及开学演讲。她先发表了一个2分钟的开学致辞，随后在哈佛纪念教堂晨祷仪式上又发表了一个7分钟的演讲。

克劳迪娜·盖伊是哈佛大学校史上第 一位黑人校长和第二位女性校长，更是美国藤校历史上目前唯 一的一位黑人校长。

她出身于海地移民家庭，拥有哈佛大学政府学博士学位。

盖伊校长的履历也是一路学霸，曾就读于全美第 一寄宿美高菲利普斯埃克塞特学院，随后进入斯坦福大学学习经济学，并获得安娜劳拉迈尔斯经济学最 佳本科论文奖，而后考入哈佛大学从事政治学研究。盖伊于2006年加入哈佛大学，担任政府学教授，并于2015-2018年担任社会科学系主任，2018-2022年担任哈佛大学文理学院院长，于2022年12月被任命为哈佛大学第三十任校长，于2023年7月1日起正式担任哈佛大学新校长。

就任校长后，盖伊还兼任政府学教授和非洲与非裔美国人研究的教授。在演讲中，盖伊校长分享了她的个人成长和奋斗经历。她敦促学生们做好准备，克服本科期间可能出现的自我怀疑情绪。

以下为开学演讲内容精彩节选：

你们每个人都值得拥有哈佛的入场券。这是这是你们通过不懈努力得到的。你们每个人都属于这里。

你们都可以通过做真实的自己、分享不同的观点以及作出贡献，让哈佛变得更强、更好。我明白你们能做到，因为这是我亲眼所见。

作为一名哈佛的教职工，这么多年来，我见证了许多学生实现了令人惊叹的变化，对世界的每个维度的理解和认知都发生了深刻改变。

我明白，大家在本科期间可能出现自我怀疑，这很难避免。

曾经，我11岁的时候，因为没有中间名，我产生了缺失感，我担心这种缺失感可能会让我失去“重塑自己的可能”。

可是当我向父母寻求建议时，他们说：你的名字就足够了。

我在脑海中反复思考这句话，这么多年来，它一直陪伴着我，这是关于我的特质、我的才能和我的身份的有力声明。

即使是作为校长的现在，当我在文件上签名时，这句话仍会浮现在我的脑海中。

从现在开始直到毕业典礼这期间，又或许是在这期间的某些时刻，你可能会感到能力不足。

尽管你现在知道得更多，但你会觉得怎么周围的每个人都知道发生了什么，好像周围的每个人都理解了你不理解的东西，看到了你看不到的东西。

当这种情况发生时，我希望你们想起这个故事、和我父母这般的智慧。

你被赋予的名字就是你需要的一切，从今天开始，你将努力让自己扬名立万。

你可以是谁？你将会是谁？

你们将与同学们一起，在与教师、辅导员和院长的交谈中，结合自己的学习生活和学术研究来思考这些问题。

要注意那些能让你充满活力和成就感的任务和想法，关注内心的喜悦和满足。不要认为任何事情是理所当然的。

为了如今的幸福，也为了未来的成就，你们要愿意重新考虑先前设定的那些（对于大学的）假设。 

除了盖伊校长，还有其他哈佛大学教职人员参加了开学典礼，向哈佛的新生们送上祝福。

哈佛商学院的领导力教授、文理学院社会学教授、以及哈佛学院院长拉克什·库拉纳（Rakesh Khurana）在演讲中鼓励学生们 "勇于变革"，"超越自我"，充分利用哈佛的教育机会。

他说：“大学不是你人生路上的一个站点，它就是你的人生。”

“大学四年是你确定人生模式的时间，如果这些年里不冒险、不强化你的信念，不去思考你是谁和你想要什么，那么20年后，你仍将被这些事情困扰。”

“你将拥抱自己的转变，拥有博雅教育所能提供的最 好的东西。在这个世界上能做的事情如此之多，拥抱自己的转变听上去可能像是一种较为自私的追求。但这是我们唯 一的出路。”

“我们只有勇于改变自己，才能开始改变世界。”

 哈佛新任校长开学致辞

Welcome and welcome back to Harvard!

欢迎,再次欢迎回到哈佛!

The beginning of each academic year thrills with possibility.

每一个新学年的伊始都令人激动且充满可能。

What can we accomplish?What will we accomplish as individuals and as a community?How can we, how will we meet the moment?

小到个人，大到社区，我们能够做到什么？我们会达成什么？我们如何才能，怎样才会遇见那一刻?

For me, one of the most inspiring aspects of being part of our university is knowing that the gap between can and will is narrower here at Harvard.

对我来说,身为我们大学的一员，最欢欣鼓舞的一点就是知道——在哈佛,“能力”和“意愿”之间的鸿沟很小。

We dare to reach, encouraged by colleagues and by classmates, emboldened by a history of extraordinary achievement.

在同事和同学的鼓励下,在非凡成就历史的激励下,我们敢于达成目标。

We dare to change knowing that leadership and impact demand innovation.

因为深知领导力和影响力需要创新，我们勇于改变。

Since my election as president, I've learned more about the aspirations that exist throughout our community.

自当选校长以来,我对整个社区存在的愿景了解得更多。

Aspirations that not only fulfill our mission but also expand, enrich, and celebrate it.

这些愿景不仅实现我们的使命,还扩展、充实并庆祝它。

At events and meetings, in chance encounters and over ice cream, I've gotten to know some of you and to understand what motivates your contributions to the university and your drive to change the world.

在活动和会议上,在偶遇甚至是一起吃冰淇淋时,我认识了你们中的一些人,并理解是什么驱使你们为大学做出贡献和改变世界的动力。

Though our pursuits are vast and varied, we all share something important and essential, a boundless and probing curiosity.

虽然我们的目标广泛多样,但我们都共享一些重要而本质的东西,那就是无穷无尽的好奇心。

I begin my first academic year as president in awe of your ambition, your optimism, your fearlessness, and your talent, and with enormous gratitude for the warm welcome you've given me.

作为校长,我对你们的雄心、乐观、无畏和才华充满敬畏,也对你们给予我的热烈欢迎充满了无限的感激,开始我的第 一个学年。

I wish you well in the months to come and I look forward to everything we'll accomplish together.

在未来的几个月里,我祝你们一切顺利,并期待我们将共同取得的一切。

Once again welcome and see you soon.

再次欢迎,期待很快见到你们!

哈佛官网原文报道

President Claudine Gay welcomes Class of 2027, urges them to fearlessly embrace personal transformation

BY：Liz Mineo Harvard Staff Writer

It was a day of firsts.

Harvard President Claudine Gay welcomed the Class of 2027 and exhorted them to lean into the journey that brought them to the present moment and gear up for the transformations that await them in the next four years.

“Let your joy and your pride win out,” said Gay, Ph.D. ’98, who spoke at Tercentenary Theatre on Monday afternoon in the annual Convocation ceremony, officially marking the entry of first-year students into the Harvard community. “Each of you deserves it. Each of you has earned it. Each of you belongs here.

“Each of you will make Harvard stronger and better by being who you are, by sharing your perspective, and by contributing to our mission,” she said. “I know this because I have seen it myself. Year after year, as a faculty member, I witnessed extraordinary transformations in students, profound shifts in understanding and awareness across every dimension of being.”

Yesterday was also an extra special Convocation for Gay, marking her first as president of Harvard. Gay succeeded Larry Bacow, who stepped down in June, after serving as Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 2018. Gay, who was also Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and a professor of African and African-American studies, urged the students to be prepared to overcome feelings of self-doubt that may arise at times during their undergraduate years.

She noted such insecurities are difficult to avoid, recounting an incident that took place when she was a child. At the age of 11 she began to feel painfully “insufficient” because she lacked a middle name. She feared being thus incomplete might somehow preclude her from “the possibility of reinvention.” When Gay turned to her parents for advice, they simply responded: “Your name is enough.”

“I turned those four words over in my mind, and they have stayed with me all these years, a powerful statement about my inheritance, my identity, and my capacity,” said Gay. “Sometimes, even now, even as president, when I am pushing a pen across paper and signing my name, those four words surface in my mind.”

“At some point between now and Commencement — probably at several points between now and your Commencement — you will feel insufficient. Despite knowing better, you will feel as if everyone around you knows exactly what is going on, as if everyone around you understands something you do not, sees something that you do not. When that happens, I hope you remember this story — and my parents’ wisdom.”

In closing Gay asked students to be willing to be transformed by Harvard by exploring who they are and who they want to become. “You have been given a name, and that is all that you need, but from this day forward you will make a name for yourself,” she said.

“Who can you be? Who will you be?’ said Gay. “These are the questions that you will consider alongside your classmates; in conversation with faculty, proctors, tutors, and deans; and in connection to your own learning and scholarship.

“Take notice of work and ideas that energize and fulfill you. Take notice of your joy and your satisfaction. Take nothing for granted. Be willing to reconsider assumptions for the sake of your present happiness, but also for future contentment.”

Along with Gay, other University officials took part in the ceremony to salute the newest members of the Harvard community, including Thomas Dunne, dean of students at Harvard College. Representing students were Harvard Undergraduate Association co-presidents John Cooke ’25 and Shikoh Hirabayashi ’25.

Rakesh Khurana, A.M. ’97, Ph.D.’98, Martin Bower Professor of Leadership at the Harvard Business School, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Danoff Dean of Harvard College, encouraged students to make the best of their Harvard education by being “open to transformation” and “commit[ting] to something beyond yourself.”

“College is not a stop on the way to the rest of your life,” he said. “This is your life. And these four years of College are where the patterns for your lives will be set. If you spend these years taking no chances, reinforcing your beliefs, deferring any reflection on who you are and what you want, you will be doing the same thing in 20 years.

“In embracing your own transformation, you will be embracing the best that a liberal arts education has to offer,” said Khurana. “To embrace your own transformation may sound like a selfish pursuit when there is so much work to be done in our world. But it is the only way forward. We can only begin to change the world if we are open to changing ourselves.”