Convocation is the annual celebratory occasion that launches the start of every school year. Freshmen, faculty, staff and upperclassmen all come together and recite the Matriculation Pledge, a tradition upheld for many decades here at Connecticut College. This year in particular marked a new era in history.
President Higdon opened up this year’s convocation with an official theme for the event: ‘Diversity, Equity and Shared Governance.’ Each of these words reflects a core value of our school.
Conn’s mission statement says, “The College strives to be a community in which all members feel comfortable, respect each other›s differences and seek common ground.”
Students and the college community were pleased to hear the theme surround such fundamental values. However, many people are still perplexed by the purpose of establishing a theme to this school year. So what exactly is the purpose of this theme?
Theresa Ammirati, Dean of Studies, said, “While Convocation should be an important event, bringing everyone together for the beginning of the school year, it often has had less attendance than it should and in many ways has been disconnected from the school year.”
Convocation also featured an alumni speaker who spoke to the values of this year’s theme, both at Conn and beyond. Debo P. Adegbile ‘91, the acting president and director-counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, was chosen to tie the importance of diversity and equity into the real world. Adegbile provided anecdotes from his time at the college and educated the audience about the closely-watched case on affirmative action in higher education, which will be heard by the Supreme Court this semester.
Through the invitation of an alumni speaker reflecting on national issues like affirmative action, the administration hopes that adding themes to Convocation will increase the presence of the student body at the annual event. “In future years, we plan to focus on one of the values from the Mission Statement each year and plan to invite other alumni who can bring personal and professional knowledge to Convocation as Debo did this year,” states Dean Ammirati.
Many students are in favor of introducing yearly themes during Convocation. “The mission statement is a major part of what makes Connecticut College unique. It was definitely something I paid attention to when I was looking at Conn,” said Grae Sundstrom ’14.
Freshman Matthew Hwa favors this year’s theme because it addresses the diversity component from the school’s mission statement. “There is a lot of diversity here, but as far as acceptance goes, we still have a lot to do. So I think this is an important first step to improve acceptance [at Conn],” Hwa said.
“It’s an amazing thing what Conn is doing to actually promote and focus on their themes from the mission statement,” claims Andrea Luna ’15. “There is a lot of work to be done, not just focusing on the diversity within campus but realizing the diversity outside of our campus – in New London and the world in general.”
With intentions to continue creating convocation themes, President Higdon claims, “We will build year-long themes around each one of our six core values for six consecutive years and then we will come back to “Equity, Diversity and Shared Governance” with a new generation of students and begin again.”
Dean Ammirati states, “There will be some events during the year that focus on the topic — on Founder’s Day, for example, and, if at all possible, during Commencement. We will be talking to REAL (the Office of Residential Education and Living) and to the REFs soon about working with Floor Governors on some programming for the Residence Halls that can tie into the theme as well.”
All in all, these themes intend to reinforce our college’s core values among the entire college community.
President Higdon reaffirmed, “Our College values define who we are as an institution and as a community. We all will benefit by a renewed understanding of these core values — they truly are the cornerstones of the Connecticut College experience.”
