Bill Gates Urges Harvard Graduates to Grow Into Activists

In a commencement speech at the university he famously dropped out of, Bill Gates implored 6,871 Harvard graduates to use their education to alleviate poverty worldwide and halt the spread of preventable diseases, reports The Boston Globe.

“You have technology that members of my class never had. You have an awareness of global inequity, which we never had,” said Mr. Gates, whose foundation has focused on improving American education and global health.

Mr. Gates also urged graduates onto a path he himself did not take, saying he remained ignorant, during his two-and-a-half years at Harvard, of larger social problems: “Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.”

Harvard rewarded Mr. Gates with an honorary doctorate, which he said will come in handy in a year when he steps down as chairman of Microsoft, to run his foundation full-time. “It will be nice to finally have a college degree on my resume.”

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