James Anderson, Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, and Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, reflect on the occasion and narrate the procession of 220 delegates from universities, learned societies, and professional organizations around the world.

Notable delegates include Nobel-prize winning author Toni Morrison, Lord Wilson, Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and former FAS dean Jeremy Knowles. An ebullient performance by the Harvard College Pan-African Dance and Music Ensemble closed the procession. Jacqueline A. O'Neill, University Marshal, welcomed guests and introduced the ceremonies' speakers.

Gutman extended her greetings to "an award-winning teacher, path-breaking scholar, and bridge building leader -- professor, historian, and dean, and now president, Drew Gilpin Faust...We are witness to historical change in the making," Gutman said. "For the first time in 371 years, Harvard has chosen as its president a Southerner... and a woman. Indeed, a rebellious daughter of the South."

Faust's work championing equity in education for minorities and women, Gutman said, "is precisely what Harvard and all universities and colleges need to confront the most pressing challenges confronting higher education today." Universities need equalize opportunity,Gutman said, and Faust has the intellect and passion to "open Harvard's gates even wider, to the most talented, regardless of social pedigree, in order to educate the freest and most equal citizenry the world has ever known."

To solve current problems, like AIDS in Africa and obesity, universities must have global and interdisciplinary understanding. "Most great ideas today in science as well as the humanities... bridge academic disciplines. We therefore need to lower, not raise barriers between schools and departments," Gutman said.

"Today Harvard reinvents itself," said Gutman, "...taking on a new character, the character of a rebellious daughter of the South, who has been fearless in standing up for equity and excellence in education, utterly faithful to the cosmopolitan ethos of the academy, and above all passionately devoted to the cause of veritas, for which Harvard nobly stands. Brava to Harvard, for putting presidential power in such able hands."

Verba welcomed Faust in the name of the Harvard faculty. "The task she is taking on is crucial to Harvard... and to teaching and scholarship more generally," Verba said. Other Boston institutions, like the Boston Symphony Orchestra, have clear goals and audiences; Harvard has many goals and constituencies. "Harvard is here to educate undergraduates - not to train them in any particular skill or subject, but to educate them broadly, which means to teach them many things, in many ways," Verba said. Undergraduates, graduate and professional students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community neighbors are all part of Harvard, Verba said, "They do not move in lockstep, and they rarely sit quietly."

"That's why I welcome President Faust," Verba said. "I do not envy her task, but I envy Harvard for having a president who I believe can do the impossible; maintain the strength and creativity that comes with diversity and independence, but also create a better whole." Verba cited Faust's' strengths as a teacher, researcher, and leader - particularly at the multidisciplinary Radcliffe Institute.

Verba's assignment was to speak for the faculty, which has several thousand members and at least as many opinions, Verba said. "But I doubt I that have ever seen the faculty as united as it is in welcoming President Faust. We are all eager to work with her for a great, and even greater Harvard."

"Permit me to speak for the historians," Franklin said. "... One cannot read Drew Faust's Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War without appreciating not merely her talent as a first-rate historian, but her enormous gifts as a close student of the human condition, and her deep commitment to its radical improvement." Faust has shown that we "can learn great lessons from the past," Franklin said. "While we are certain that the Corporation and Board of Overseers will attempt to hold you hostage for an indefinite period, we look forward to your return to us, to resume the production of those valuable works..."

Performed by Sandra M. Cameron '09

"I believe we are entering a new era of student citizenship at Harvard," Petersen said. Faust is a model, Petersen said, for student citizenship, a she fought for civil rights, against the Vietnam War, and to take her rightful place in a "man's world." Harvard's new undergraduate General Education curriculum declares that "students must be educated as future citizens," Petersen said, "...[but] students are not just future citizens; we are citizens now... we are citizens of our university."

Students are denied full and active participation at Harvard, Petersen said. "I refuse to accept that this is a faculty and administrators' world." In the last few years, student activism has helped create a new calendar and curriculum, promoted a fairer contract with security guards, and prodded the university to take the first steps towards divestment from Darfur. Progress has been difficult, and students have often been frustrated. "We are systematically excluded from decision making, even among what ought to Harvard's most representative bodies, and this must change," Petersen said.

Students welcome the installation, and look forward to what they can accomplish with Faust. "Change does not come easily to these hallowed grounds. But this I pledge to you today and every day: students can be counted among your staunchest allies as you work towards progress," Petersen said.

Sullivan greeted Faust on behalf of Harvard's 13,000 staff, "each of whom, in partnership with faculty and students, has an integral role in advancing Harvard's world-changing mission of research and teaching to advance the common good," Sullivan said. Faust's installation provides "the opportunity to confirm the value and dignity of the work performed by each of its citizens," Sullivan said. "... You will lead and plan, we will build, and they – the world's great researchers, exceptional scholars, students, and staff – will come."

"Harvard plays a very special role in our commonwealth, and in the lives of our people," Patrick said. Patrick, a Harvard almnus, was the first person in his family to go to college. When Patrick's grandmother heard he had been accepted, "what she was excited about was not the prestige, but the opportunity," Patrick said. "Remember my grandmother's wisdom, and all those waiting for a chance."

Patrick urged Faust to "lean forward," as Harvard has, by collaborating with the state to create the largest collection of stem-cell lines, and committing to a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases for the Allston campus. "The 21st century is hungry for the leadership you can provide," Patrick said.

Music: Vaishmav Jan To

Sonu Niigaam, vocal

Deepak Pandit, violin

Elvis Lobo, guitar

Neil Sawhney ’08, guitar

Dhaval Chadha ’08, drums

Gowri Aragam ’08, keyboard

O'Neill called on Harvard's President of the Board of Overseers and the Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation to deliver the Presentation and the Charge to Faust.

Representing alumni worldwide, Fergusson said "We join in your determination, in your words, to 'challenge ourselves to build a future that both honors and transcends our past.' " Fergusson invited each Harvard's past presidents attending the installation to present Faust with insignia of her office. Derek Bok presented Faust with two silver keys, representing the opening of doors to knowledge and truth. Neil Rudenstine gave Faust the oldest volume of the college records, which begin in 1639. Lawrence Summers's gift was two Harvard seals; the corporation seal of 1650, and the great seal adopted in 1885.

Fergusson then declared that Faust was vested with all powers and privileges of the President's office.

"In Drew Faust... we have a true scholar, a passionate teacher, a thoughtful and incisive leader, and a real friend," Houghton said, "And in our extraordinary faculty, staff, students, alumni, alumnae, and friends, we have an endlessly fertile source of knowledge and ideas and a remarkable source for good in the world."

Houghton presented Faust with a replica of the original charter of the university, dated 1615. "The president and fellows of Harvard college exist as the oldest corporate entity in the Western hemisphere," Houghton said. Houghton then escorted Faust to the President's Chair, first acquired by President Edward Holyoke in 1769, and used by every Harvard president since during installations and commencement." I declare that by these rites, the actions of the governing boards in electing the president are publicly confirmed," Houghton said.

Faust reflected on what universities mean in the 21st century. "American higher education in 2007 is in a state of paradox -- at once celebrated and assailed," Faust said. Critics accuse universities of wasting money and repressing unpopular opinions, yet applicants compete fiercely for a chance to attend, and alumni contribute billions of dollars annually. The public has "almost unbounded expectations," for universities, Faust said,. "Education makes the promise of America possible."

Americans are anxious about access to college, and the cost of a four-year education, but those are not the ultimate cause of their concerns. "The deeper problem is a widespread lack of understanding and agreement about what universities ought to do and be," Faust said. "...The essence of a university is that it is uniquely accountable to the past and to the future -- not simply or even primarily to the present."

Universities are "stewards of living tradition," including subjects like classics, and materials in libraries and museums "... because they define what has over centuries made us human, not because they can enhance our global competitiveness." At the same time, Faust said, "By their nature, universities nurture a culture of restlessness and even unruliness. This lies at the heart of their accountability to the future." Universities must embrace change, however unsettling, and "leap geographic as well as intellectual boundaries," said Faust.

Harvard's' community has a special responsibility to the university. "We must act not just as students and staff... but as citizens of the university, with obligations to this commonwealth of the mind," Faust said, "... and we are responsible not just to and for this university, Harvard, in this moment, 2007, but to the very concept of the university as it has evolved over nearly a millennium."

Faust pledged her accountability to Harvard's traditions and its future, and invited the assembled guests to join her in her work. "Let us embrace those responsibilities and possibilities; let us share them... let us take up the work joyfully, for such an assignment is a privilege beyond measure."

O'Neill introduced the benediction, and explained how Faust and her guests on stage would exit. Gomes ended the ceremony by praying that the university's good work might prosper, and thanked God for His guidance.