And, unlike in 1642, the crowd won't understand what she's talking about. In colonial times, all students and most educated audience members underwent rigorous training in Latin composition and declamation.

But classics courses at the College have been voluntary since 1868. This spring, not even 100 graduates took Latin language courses, and only 25 students will graduate with a degree in classics this year.

Why, then, does this outdated tradition persist?

Well, because Harvard loves outdated traditions.

Richard F. Thomas--chair of the Committee on Commencement Parts, which judges the oration submissions, and a classics professor--guesses as much.

There's "no good practical reason, any more than there is for all of us putting on funny robes and hats, which are also products of medieval Latin culture," he says.

For her part, Stetsko contends that the oration is entertaining even for non-classicists, and the foreign tongue poses a unique challenge. (The 11 drafts that she has completed in preparation for her moment in the limelight suggest just how much of a challenge.)