The 1,434 members of the Class of 2008, along with hundreds of incoming transfer, graduate, medical and Resumed Undergraduate Education students, received a healthy dose of Brown tradition Tuesday, after passing en masse through the Van Wickle Gates.
President Ruth Simmons spoke to an audience of more than 2,000 students and faculty members, welcoming the incoming class and declaring the official start of the academic year.
Simmons also announced a $20 million donation to build a new "fitness and wellness" building. Donors Fredric Garonzik '64, Jonathan Nelson '77 and Daniel O'Connell '76 are all trustees.
Simmons outlined campus improvements and changes planned for this year, including the expansion of the faculty and improved financial aid. She praised Brown students and faculty, calling them "an immensely varied community" and encouraging the incoming students to "fight for the idealist within you," during their time at Brown and beyond.
Simmons also introduced convocation speaker Professor of Anthropology Kay Warren, a cultural anthropologist. Warren began teaching at Brown last year.
As a newcomer to Brown, Warren said she found the independence and strong leadership abilities of students "striking."
Brown has "the most diverse and lively student body I have encountered," said Warren, who taught at Mount Holyoke College and Princeton University as well as Harvard University before joining the Brown faculty as a professor in the anthropology department and at the Watson Institute for International Studies.
"There's something special happening here at Brown in the classrooms," Warren said, citing her own experience teaching about violence and the media last year as an example. After studying the inner workings of a television newsroom, members of the class decided to put on their own news broadcast. Part of their objective was to show the importance of a better representation of violent conflict on television news. The students "faced the same problems as editors and documentary filmmakers," Warren said.
"Brown students have a willingness to explore critical issues about themselves and the entire world," Warren said.
She left the incoming students with some advice. "Now is the time to treat your intellectual life to a banquet feast. Be omnivorous. ... Take some risks - explore diversities new to you."
The noon ceremony was ripe with tradition, with first-years gathering on College Street, outside the Van Wickle Gates. Convocation is one of the only two times each year that the gates are opened. The other is Commencement, when the gates open outward for the graduating class.
Nick Kennedy '08 said he appreciated the traditional aspects of the ceremony. "I liked having everyone see me go through the gates and watch me become a part of Brown," he said.
The 2004 Convocation ceremony was marked by changes that have taken place gradually over the past five years, said Vice President for Alumni Relations Lisa Raiola '84. Graduate, RUE and transfer students have only recently begun taking part in the procession.
"Prior to that, convocation was much more focused on incoming freshmen. Now, the event is inclusive of the whole community," Raiola said.
Raiola also said that she saw a more concentrated effort to educate first-years on the significance and meaning of the convocation ceremony. "So many freshmen participated. You could see that it really meant something to them," she said.
Herald senior staff writer Sarah LaBrie '07 can be reached at herald@browndailyherald.com.
