My Idea of Fun

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright returns to the University of Couldn't Get Into Harvard to explain why she's "laid-forward."

"I am somebody who finds a lot of fun in the possibility of being able to make decisions that have an effect on Americans, on our foreign policies and in trying to solve problems…"

Public service work can be more glamorous than people often expect, Albright said.

"Most lectures about public service…quote Mother Theresa and urge people to join the Peace Corps, that personally ambitious people need not apply," she said. "My message to you this afternoon is a little bit different. I urge you to see public service as a means of self-fulfillment and not self-denial."

A hopeful sign: At least one Yalie was unimpressed by the speech. "[F]or people our age, obviously there's the sense that NGOs and more small-scale stuff is more nimble and more responsive to the things we're interested in," said Jamie Hodariylsoh ('07), "whereas it was clear that [Albright] still views government as the pinnacle of public service, which I don't think is necessarily the case for most people at Yale."