Return of Harvardian Alumina

It is about forty years since she enrolled at Harvard. The precipitant events that paved her academic sojourn at those hallow walls and which shaped her political orientation has turned out to facilitate her trajectory to national leadership today; more so, being the first political leader of Liberia and in Africa--an epithet that the world’s oldest university perhaps thought was necessary to flaunt in the full glare of young graduates as a source of inspiration. And the Liberian President was at her best in oratory prowess as she recounted how destiny linked her to that enviable academic shrine called Harvard University. The Analyst reports.

Self-confidence, sometimes called arrogance, that comes from being a Harvard graduate can also lead one down a dangerous path.

President Sirleaf admits that this has proven true in her life.

One year after her return from Cambridge, she faced the dangerous and lucky fate that took her to the world’s most prestigious university.

In a commencement address at her high school Alma Mater, fresh from Harvard where she had got a Masters Degrees in Public Administration, she questioned Government’s failure to address long-standing inequalities in the society.

But a few years earlier (now forty years now) an event had put her on the path that was to lead her to Harvard and eventually make her what she is today.

“I participated, as a junior official of Liberia’s Department of Treasury, in a national development conference sponsored by our National Planning Council and a team of Harvard advisors working with Liberia,” President Sirleaf recalled as she addressed the 130th Convocation of Harvard late last week. “My remarks, which challenged the status quo, landed me in my first political trouble.”

The President further recounted: “The head of the Harvard team, recognizing, in a closed society, the potential danger I faced, facilitated the process that enabled me to become a Mason Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government. The Edward S. Mason Program provided me with the opportunity to study a diversified curriculum for a Master’s Degree in Public Administration.  Perhaps more importantly, in terms of preparation for leadership, the Program enabled us to learn and interact with other Fellows and classmates who represented current and potential leaders from all continents.”

But her remarks at her highs school alma mater following her return from Harvard forced her into exile and a staff position at the World Bank.

“Other similar events would follow in a life in and out of country, in and out of jail, in and out of professional service,” she recalled. “There were times when I thought death was near, and times when the burden of standing tall by one’s conviction seemed only to result in failure. But through it all, my experience sends a strong message that failure is just as important as success. You cannot appreciate success if you do not know failure.”

She told the graduates and faculty that it was difficult to imagine arriving at Harvard at all and knowing all she have achieved today, without the starting opportunity to study at Harvard.

“It is, therefore, for me a profound honor to be counted as an alumna. I speak with utter gratitude and humility when I salute my fellow graduates who share the rich Harvardian heritage of academic excellence and of truthful pursuits,” she said