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Week of 11 September 1998 Vol. II, No. 5 Feature Article Presidential advisory New Matriculation foreshadows a Commencement four years hence by Eric McHenry "This is likely to be one of only two occasions," BU President Jon Westling said in his welcoming remarks to the class of 2002, "when your class gathers together as a whole. The next time will be May of 2002, when you graduate." It was an apt parallel, because the 1998 Matriculation at which Westling was speaking had all the pomp and circumstance -- Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" excepted -- of a Commencement ceremony. Deans from each of the University's schools donned mortarboards and gowns to greet the 4,200-member freshman class September 2 in the Armory. "It was more formal than my high school graduation," said Chris Perrotti, a CGS freshman from New Haven, Conn. As the University's official welcome to first-year and transfer students, the President's Convocation has always been important. But a heightened sense of ceremony lent this year's duly renamed Matriculation a new luster. Speeches by 1998 Arthur G. B. Metcalf Award-winner Loren J. Samons II, CAS assistant professor of classical studies, and 1998 UNI graduate Heather Vinson, this year's student speaker at Commencement, preceded Westling's address. The event also featured a formal matriculation, in which deans of the various schools invited their freshmen to stand and be recognized by Westling. It concluded with the singing of "Clarissima," the University's song. President Westling about to deliver welcoming remarks at the 1998 Matriculation, formerly the President's Convocation. BU Photo Services The Commencement exercises that the Matriculation foreshadowed, Westling pointed out, are still a long way off. In the intervening years, he said, the class of 2002 will live in a strange state of suspension -- at once detached from, and deeply affected by, the events of the larger world. "May of 2002 may also be the next occasion when you see faculty and other University officials wearing the ceremonial caps and gowns that you see them in today," said Westling. "These are symbols of the special status of University life, which is to a certain degree set apart from the rest of society. From this moment until the day you graduate, you too will participate in that special status. And although you won't be required to wear academic garb modeled on medieval gowns and hats, you will be wearing its invisible equivalent." Such an outfit, Westling added, does not insulate its wearer from the prevailing societal winds. "Like the members of every class, you will be shaped by your historical moment in ways that you won't realize until much later," he said, identifying the current crisis facing the U.S. presidency as a development that raises unprecedented questions about the provinces of public and private life. Inevitably, he said, it will affect this year's freshmen and the future in which they will live. The success of their college education will turn, he said, on how they choose to reconcile the different domains they must simultaneously occupy -- as citizens of both the world at large and the University microcosm, as public and as private individuals, as students of life, and as specialists. Helping freshmen find their seating sections at Matriculation. BU Photo Services "As a University student you are now in a situation ideally suited to develop your character," he said. "The University offers no guarantees. You can choose to ignore the project of finding a good way to combine your public and your private selves. You can content yourself merely with being prepared for life as a specialist. The University cannot force you . . . to pursue wholeness of mind, body, and spirit. But you should know that this University is founded on the hope that you will rise to those challenges. And if you choose to engage them, you will find here some of the people who have thought the best thoughts on these subjects -- people who have dedicated their lives to teaching others how to turn the lead of knowledge and expertise into the gold of character." SED freshman Sarah Slinghoff said she was drawn to BU precisely because it allows her to occupy two very different communities at the same time -- the University's large academic and social community and the small, personal community of her chosen field of study: social studies education. "I feel I'm getting the best of both worlds," she says. "I'm at this huge school in the middle of this huge city, but at the same time, there are seven people entering my major. I get the personal attention I'd expect from a really small school, but I'm not missing out on any aspect of college life." The collective academic record of the incoming class, Westling said, augurs well for its members meeting the University's challenges. More than two-thirds of the new freshmen, he noted, finished in the top 20 percent of their high school class. He also celebrated the group's diversity. "You've arrived here from all 50 states and from 75 countries overseas. Part of my confidence in your ability to make an exceptional mark lies in your tremendous diversity. I'm confident that eventually, and before many years have passed, your influence will be felt around the world." Filing out of the Armory, the class of 2002 was greeted by BU's marching band, which led them onto Nickerson Field for the annual SPLASH! festival. There the freshmen were issued Gap gift bags filled with apparel and snacks, courtesy of the Student-Alumni Council. The scoreboard flashed, "Welcome Class of 2002," while scores of new students devoured hamburgers and hot dogs. The fair featured dozens of activities and several tables at which new students could sign up for clubs and organizations. The harmonies of a cappella group Ball in the House provided a musical backdrop. "It was a little intimidating to listen to those speeches in there," said CGS freshman Justin Cockrell. "The fact that they're providing food makes me feel good, though. I thought, 'Wow, they actually care that I was sitting in there for a while and now it's lunchtime.' I was thinking about lunch as I was leaving, so that was a welcome sight."