Men’s Basketball Attends Lecture by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan ’87

Photo of the Harvard men's basketball team and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan '87 (Justin Ide/Harvard University).

• Photo Gallery (courtesy of Justin Ide/Harvard University)
• Complete Coverage of Event in The Harvard Crimson

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. The Harvard men's basketball team attended a lecture by United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan '87 at Memorial Church Friday evening.  The Crimson was present for the lecture on the first allowable day of practice, foregoing a first practice session of the season to attend the event, which ran from 6-9 p.m.

The team held its first practice the following Saturday morning.

Duncan was on campus to be honored as the recipient of the 2010 Robert Coles "Call of Service" Award by the Phillips Brooks House Association. Prior to the event, the Harvard men's basketball team and head coach Tommy Amaker met Duncan, who served as a co-captain of the Crimson during the 1986-87 season.

Duncan was Harvard's leading scorer as a senior, averaging 16.9 points per game, and garnered All-Ivy League honorable mention. He earned Academic All-America first-team honors and went on to play basketball professionally in Australia's National Basketball League.

Deval Patrick '78, the Governor of Massachusetts, was also in attendance at the lecture and introduced Duncan to the audience.  During his speech, Duncan spoke on topics such as education reform, the importance of public service and racial inequalities in education.