Tom Hanks received an honorary Doctor of Arts at Harvard University Thursday (May 25th) before delivering the 2023 commencement speech.
According to People, the Oscar winner joked that he received the degree “without having done a lick of work, without having spent any time in class, without once walking into that library.”
He went on to tell the graduating class to stand up against the “indifference of a people who have been made weary by struggle.”
Hanks continued, “Every day, every year, and for every graduating class, there is a choice to be made. It’s the same option for all grown-ups who have to decide to be one of three types of Americans: those who embrace liberty and freedom for all, those who won’t or those who are indifferent. Only the first do the work of creating a more perfect union, a nation indivisible. The others get in the way.”
#Harvard23 Commencement Speaker Tom Hanks 🎓 pic.twitter.com/rEM8pSIDsi
— Harvard University (@Harvard) May 25, 2023
Editorial credit: Featureflash Photo Agency