Elements of this controversy recurred in more recent campus debates, Hart says, as students and professors conflated individuals with their ideas on issues like the war in Iraq and several heated debates over House open e-mail lists.

“With all of these issues, I wish that students and professors would recognize the difference between polemics and people,” he says.

“This school pays a lot of lip service to freedom of speech but what good is expressing your opinion if the person on the other side of the issue demonizes you as a monster?”

As for his speech, Hart says he does not expect it to transform his fellow graduates into more civil communicators.

He says he does hope, however, that he leaves some impression on his peers, and on the ceremony.

“I have no illusions of what I will be able to do in five minutes in front of thirty thousand people,” he says. “I hope that some kernel of what I’m saying sticks.”

Hart says he remains unsure about his long-term future plans, but will return home this summer to work on his family’s farm, a summer job he had held since age 12.

Back in his hometown of Connell, Wash., his family owns a wheat farm the size of Cambridge, Allston and Brighton combined.

He says his rural upbringing has only heightened his excitement over today’s speech.

“There’s going to be ten times as many people [at Commencement] as are in my town,” he observes. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to leave some personal stamp.”

—Staff writer Jasmine J. Mahmoud can be reached at mahmoud@fas.harvard.edu.