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Humility at Harvard
Comedian and television host Conan O’Brien delivered Harvard’s 375th commencement address on Thursday, urging graduates to demonstrate humility and empathy while he mocked the Trump administration’s attacks on his alma mater.
“Conan O’Brien to speak at Harvard commencement amid university's battle with Trump Harvard graduates will hear from comedian and television host Conan O’Brien at their commencement CAMBRIDGE, Mass”
Speaking as a Brookline native, O’Brien said, “We are living through a period of extreme narcissism,” and added that “Our current leadership in Washington believes that empathy is a weakness, and that our nation stands supreme and alone.”
O’Brien also framed his message around de-emphasizing prestige, telling graduates that “If you carry your victories lightly, other qualities — kindness, originality, courage, humor, and humanity — have room to emerge.”
The Boston Globe reported that Harvard graduates heard O’Brien’s remarks as the university faced accusations from the Trump administration about antisemitism and federal research funding cuts, which the paper said had been restored.
In the same commencement context, O’Brien’s humor included jabs at the Justice Department’s civil litigation against Harvard, which the Globe said drew delight from the crowd.
Trump pressure and lawsuits
Multiple outlets tied O’Brien’s Harvard appearance to the Ivy League school’s legal and financial pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration, which sued Harvard in March and accused its leadership of failing to address antisemitism on campus.
The Associated Press account carried by WJAR said the administration slashed more than $2.6 billion in Harvard’s research funding, ended federal contracts, and attempted to block the college from hosting international students.
O’Brien responded with jokes that he too was suing Harvard, and Boston | Local Western reported that he announced, “I’m confident that my claims will have more merit than those filed by the President of the United States,” to cheers.
In the same speech, O’Brien addressed the administration’s effort to limit enrollment of foreign-born students, saying, “The current administration feels Harvard admits too many foreign students. And who knows, maybe they may have a point.”
He then expanded the point with a list of cultural contributions, continuing, “After all, what has any foreigner ever added to our American culture, with the possible exception of music, literature, art, cuisine, fashion, architecture, dance, scientific breakthroughs, and the core of our moral codes and ethical beliefs?”
Harvard’s next chapter
Beyond O’Brien’s remarks, the sources described a broader commencement atmosphere shaped by ongoing disputes between Harvard and the federal government, with ABC News and NBC Boston both tying the ceremony to the administration’s March lawsuit and earlier court action ordering reversals of funding cuts.
“At Harvard University on May 28th, Conan O’Brien delivered an irreverent and heartfelt commencement speech to graduates, packed with jokes mocking his alma mater (including specific references to certain dorm rooms and dining hall atrocities)”
NBC Boston said O’Brien urged grads not to let Harvard define them, quoting him as saying, “Maybe my wish for you is not that Harvard becomes the last thing people know about you,” and adding that he wanted “Harvard become the least important thing people know about you.”
The AP reporting carried by WJAR said recent commencements had become more political, including last year’s student cheers for maintaining a diverse and international student body and a year before that’s walkouts and chants of “Free, free Palestine” after weeks of protests over the war in Gaza.
WJAR also reported that this year striking graduate students announced they would be picketing commencement over “a lack of progress in their contract negotiations,” and that the over 4,000 graduate student workers want better pay and “an independent process for dealing with harassment and discrimination complaints.”
In the same commencement period, the Boston Globe said students and families gathered around Harvard Yard after the ceremony, while the university’s president Alan M. Garber told the crowd, “truth without liberty is a fire without air.”
