Bacow Urges Truth-Seeking at Convocation, Morning Prayers

Various Sources

In President Bacow’s final convocation, he urged the Class of 2026 students to seek truth by engaging with different perspectives. The advice comes at a time when universities, including Harvard, are coming under fire for cultivating campus climates inhospitable to free speech, open inquiry and academic freedom.

“Our motto at Harvard is Veritas,” Bacow said. “It is more than a motto. It is the reason we exist, to seek the truth. But truth needs to be tested and needs to be revealed and that can only happen on the anvil of competing ideas. If you really seek the truth, it’s important to engage with people who think differently from you. Even more importantly, you need to be willing to change your mind in the face of a better argument or new information. Only when you have this experience will you be well equipped to make a difference in the world.”

He also urged students to “be slow to judge and quick to understand.”

Khurana, Dean of Harvard College, supported Bacow’s messaging in his words about discomfort and conformity: “Searching for the truth requires taking risks and being comfortable with being uncomfortable,” he said, and that “some of the most powerful obstacles to searching for the truth actually come from within us. One of these obstacles is the temptation to conform… The forces of conformity can be strong and work against our ability to seek answers to tough questions.”

Bacow continued the theme at Morning Prayers, stressing the important of truth-seeking and debate: “As we begin again to imagine the future — as individuals and as a community — may we all find ways to resist the lure of righteousness and moral certitude,” he said. “May we embrace the possibility of transcendence through argument. And may we live life again with greater appreciation of its fragility — and for our dependence on one another.”

Crimson Article- convocation

Gazette Article- convocation

Gazette Article- morning prayers

Harvard Magazine Article- morning prayers full remarks