Heard at Reunion

Reunion and All-Class Reunion (formerly known as Dean’s Day) are not only great ways to reconnect with classmates and friends but also offer the chance to relive your College experience through Mini-Core Classes and lectures. Here, excerpts from three of the weekend’s talks.

June 3 | Lerner

Chopin was absolutely obsessed with vocal qualities of music … so although we have no singer in this nocturne, the top line — the melody — is analogous to singing.

— Magdalena Stern-Baczewska, director, Music Performance Program, at “Music Humanities: Piano Miniatures”

June 3 | Havemeyer

Our ability to explain why [an event] is a human rights concern is remarkably fragile. Until we can define in a clear way what a human right is, we can’t really be sure that what we’re doing really does advance the cause of human rights.

— Luke MacInnis GSAS’14, the Schapiro Lecturer in Contemporary Civilization, at “Contemporary Civilization: Nonsense on Stilts? Human Rights and Their Critics”

June 4 | Lerner

You’re seeing 2 percent of all the information the universe sends us in this beautiful, variated, colorful world you see. It’s really pretty pathetic.

— David Helfand, chair, Department of Astronomy, at “Frontiers of Science: What We Know About the Universe (and What We Don’t)”