At our 40th reunion, members of the Harvard-Radcliffe Class of ’73 launched an initiative devoted to the principle that it’s not too late to change the world. While the impulse and the language describing it evoke the times in which HR73 came to maturity, that brief manifesto has now proven a guide to activism across multiple classes and generations. So, what spirit drives us?
In a time of national and global strife and distrust in institutions, professional expertise, and truth itself, ClassACTors share and apply the experience that our education, community, and collective energy have put within our reach. We know that we are blessed with opportunities that many envy and all should have. We believe that education underwrites human flourishing, not just a daily wage; that a diverse and inclusive community is more than the sum of its parts, not an invitation to chaos; that inquiry and imagination set the first, essential steps towards a new and better life for all if we have the wisdom to embrace them.
As our 50th reunion nears, we come together beyond Harvard Yard to build on the best of our institutional heritage and do together what none of us alone could hope to accomplish. With humility, energy, and empathy, we seek to pay our past advantages forward. It is indeed, “not too late to change the world”!