Gift of opportunity
Harvard President Drew Faust gathered Monday (April 25) with faculty, staff, students, and other members of the University community to celebrate the largest gift dedicated to the study of the humanities in Harvard history. Anand Mahindra ’77, M.B.A. ’81, made the $10 million donation in October in honor of his mother, Indira Mahindra. Monday’s three-part event included a concert with Yo-Yo Ma ’76, a dedication of the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard, and a dinner and witty cabaret performance with Harvard faculty. For Mahindra, the humanities offer “the freedom to think, to imagine, to challenge, and to change,” said Faust at the afternoon opening ceremony and concert in the Faculty Room at University Hall. “Today we celebrate the freedom this gift will provide for so many at Harvard,” Faust continued. “The freedom to explore together — to argue, to debate, to follow our curiosity, to ask questions that transport us beyond the immediate,...