Inauguration plans proceed apace

Plans for the inauguration of Lawrence H. Summers as Harvard’s 27th president on Oct. 12 continued to come together this week with faculty, students, and staff receiving letters of invitation to the installation ceremony, which is to take place in Tercentenary Theatre, the same location used for Commencement.

“The installation ceremony will provide the occasion to welcome back to Harvard an eminent scholar, devoted teacher, and admired public servant, and to hear from him as he assumes his vital new role,” Senior Fellow Robert Stone and Board of Overseers’ President Richard E. Oldenburg said in the letter. “It is also a moment to celebrate our University’s intellectual life, and to reflect together on our aspirations for Harvard as we open a new chapter in its long history.”

The letters invite members of the University community to the ceremony and ask that departments make arrangements so that essential operations continue while those who wish to are able to attend. Extra shuttles from Harvard’s Longwood campus in Boston will be added to help faculty, staff, and students get to Cambridge for the ceremony.

“In choosing Tercentenary Theatre as the location, we hope to accommodate as many members of our community as wish to come to hear the president’s speech, listen to the voices of a special inaugural choir, and enjoy this historic event,” said Jacqueline O’Neill, inaugural coordinator.

The academic procession will begin at 2 p.m. and the installation ceremony will follow at 2:30 p.m. All members of the University community are invited to attend.