On Tuesday afternoon, a pipe band harmonizing with the bell tower’s ring led incoming classes through the Van Wickle gates during Brown’s 261st Convocation ceremony.
On the Main Green, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 greeted thousands of new students, welcoming 1,727 undergraduates, 1,401 doctoral and masters students, 141 medical students, 10 resumed undergraduate education students and 157 transfer students.
The ceremony featured speeches from Paxson as well as Dean of the School of Public Health Ashish Jha, who was the event’s keynote speaker. The School of Public Health celebrated its tenth-anniversary last year, honoring the history of public health at Brown and the field’s future following the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, Jha served as the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, The Herald previously reported.
In her speech, Paxson encouraged students to leave the “Brown bubble” and get involved in the Providence community. She listed “supporting immigrant communities, working on vaccination campaigns and conducting research that contributes to improving air quality in Providence” as examples.
Paxson referenced the letter she shared with the community on Aug. 29, where she noted “challenges facing Brown,” including “the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, a polarizing U.S. presidential election and threats to the sustainability and autonomy of institutions of higher education.”
The letter also mentions the divestment proposal submitted to the Advisory Committee on University Resources Management. Members of the Brown Divest Coalition, a pro-Palestine student group, wrote and presented the proposal to members of the Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, in May, The Herald previously reported. The proposal calls for Brown to divest its endowment from 10 companies with ties to Israel.
Just after Paxson was welcomed to the stage, approximately 15 students held up painted canvas banners calling upon Brown to divest. Some of the students held up banners at the front of the ceremony, while others stood on the side. The protest follows a spring semester packed with large-scale calls for divestment.
The Corporation is set to vote on the “Brown Divest Now” proposal in October. The proposal was released during a hunger strike in February and calls for the University to divest from “companies identified as facilitating human rights violations in Palestine,” The Herald previously reported.
Some freshmen noted that they were grateful that the protest was able to coexist with the tradition of Convocation.
Jacob Grandchamps ’28 felt that the University is “a space for change.” He is excited that the University “is trying to listen to student issues and allow different perspectives to be heard.”
When Paxson introduced Dean Jha, student protesters walked through the Main Green towards the Stephen Robert ’62 Campus Center, silently lifting painted canvas signs.
Jha, whose speech was titled “Curiosity, Courage and Conviction: Your Brown Journey to a Healthier World” focused on the importance of ongoing scientific exploration.
“Humans started asking different questions and we started using new ways to answer these questions,” Jha said, adding that this was a result of three main principles that he encouraged members of the incoming class to embody: curiosity, courage and conviction.
Listening to the speeches, Ai Okura ’28 reflected on Jha’s words and the future ahead, adding that she enjoyed the peaceful nature of the ceremony. As she walked through the gates, she reflected that it was the “first step of four years.”
When Grandchamps walked through the Van Wickle gates, he reflected on his senior year in high school and his excitement for his time at Brown. “I was thinking about both the past and the future at the same time,” he said. “The journey I have ahead and the journey I just completed.”
Hadley Carr is a senior staff writer at The Herald.
