After a summer where endless rounds of pandemic planning and announcements seemed to define the college enterprise, 乐播传媒鈥� Opening Convocation on Sept. 1 offered welcome reminders of what we鈥檙e all about.
Presented via livestream, most of the event鈥檚 speakers delivered their remarks from otherwise mostly empty Olin Arts Center Concert Hall.
At the lectern, there was President Clayton Spencer, using the moment as a bully pulpit to affirm the power and purpose of the liberal arts in the face of rolling national crises.
Two student leaders, Perla Figuereo 鈥�21 and Lebanos Mengistu 鈥�21, shared the stage, from a safe physical distance, and spoke candidly to their fellow students about how to be their best selves at 乐播传媒.
Professor Stephanie Kelley-Romano and Professor Charles Nero, two senior members of the faculty, shared personal stories and hard-earned wisdom in service to the institution and its students.
And, at the end there was a gentle reminder of the daunting shared challenge 乐播传媒 faces this fall as Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorf, told the community that 鈥渨e are called to care for one another and this 乐播传媒 Community in ways never asked of us before.鈥�
President Spencer
In past years, only rain has driven Opening Convocation indoors. This year, the pandemic drove the event not only inside, to the Concert Hall, but its viewing audience to their laptops, phones, and desktop computers around campus and the world.
Spencer offered greetings to faculty and staff, thanking them for months of 鈥渆xtraordinary work…to adapt literally every aspect of life and work at the college.鈥�
To returning students: 鈥淲e have missed you terribly.鈥�
And to the Class of 2024, she shared a 鈥渇ervent hope that when you graduate in May 2024, we will all be gathered in person with your families and loved ones on a glorious sunny morning on the Historic Quad.鈥�
“If we substitute ideology for expertise, we lose our bearings.”
Then it was on to brass tacks: 鈥渢he liberal arts in the age of COVID鈥� and her thoughts on a summer that confronted us all, “repeatedly and relentlessly, with police killings of Black people and the ongoing devaluation of Black lives.
鈥淭hese are deeply distressing times for anyone who cares about our country and our fellow human beings. But these are particularly heavy times for the Black, Indigenous, and Brown students, faculty, and staff who are members of our community.鈥�
The stumbling national response to the pandemic, she said, has forced us to learn yet again, 鈥渢hrough bitter experience, that if we don鈥檛 get the science right, we won鈥檛 get the economics right. If we substitute ideology for expertise, we lose our bearings. Without a commitment to facts and evidence, we abandon the fundamentals of discourse, debate, and meaning making.鈥�
鈥淭his causes us to get policy wrong and hurt people. It causes us to substitute violence for persuasion. Dealing with the challenges posed by the wicked problems we are up against depends on highly specific expertise, but it requires, in equal measure, the ability to take in information from various domains and form integrated frameworks to guide policy and action.鈥�
Charles Nero and Stephanie Kelley-Romano
Reflecting tradition, the faculty speakers at Opening Convocation are selected by the prior year鈥檚 graduating class. It鈥檚 a 鈥済ift from the Class of 2020 to the Class of 2024,鈥� said Spencer, adding that the 2020 graduates 鈥渃hose brilliantly.鈥�
Both members of the Department of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies, Nero is the college鈥檚 Benjamin E. Mays ’20 Distinguished Professor who studies race and American cinema, queer studies, and African American literature. Kelley-Romano is an associate professor who studies television, conspiracy theories, and presidential campaign rhetoric.
Delivering a recorded Zoom-style talk (Nero from his Pettengill Hall office, Kelley-Romano from home), the pair spoke about the importance of being able to pivot in challenging times, 鈥渨ith adeptness or adroitness鈥� said Kelley-Romano.
Nero described his own pivot as a student. He was drawn to speech communications, specifically rhetoric and public address as he came of age in the American South in the era when the Civil Rights and Black Power movements 鈥渢ransformed the meaning of citizenship for African Americans.”
鈥淲hite supremacy and anti-blackness metaphorically slapped me in the face every semester.鈥�
Yet, he recalled, he was guided away from elevating Black voices by teachers while he was doing graduate work. A 鈥渓eading professor of American public address and oratory asked me, 鈥榃hy are you interested in writing about Blacks? Hasn鈥檛 everything been written about them?鈥欌��
Another professor discouraged Nero from writing about African Americans in 20th century progressive politics because 鈥渉e was only encouraging his graduate students who were 鈥榤ainstream and central.鈥欌��
Seeing how the traditional field of speech communication was aligned with 鈥渨hite supremacy and anti-blackness…metaphorically slapped me in the face every semester.鈥�
Nero pivoted away from traditional speech communication studies, 鈥渢o African American studies (he is a member of the college鈥檚 Africana program) and, especially toward literary and film studies. I embraced Audre Lorde鈥檚 famous pronouncement that 鈥渢he master鈥檚 tools will never dismantle the master鈥檚 house.鈥�
Though he never left speech communication completely behind 鈥� 鈥淚 still believe that language and its performance are crucial for a democracy鈥� 鈥� democracy also requires a commitment to social justice that strives to be inclusive and equitable. 鈥淭he majors I have been most involved in here at 乐播传媒 emphasize social justice as crucial components for an undergraduate education.鈥�
Kelley-Romano talked about her experience as a first-generation college student and feelings of shame that initially haunted her during her journey.
鈥淚n high school, my guidance counselor told me I was 鈥榥ot college material鈥� primarily, I think now, because my family didn鈥檛 have the 鈥榤eans鈥� of many of my classmates. So, my academic journey started in community college.鈥�
“Maya Angelou has a quote: 鈥榃e do the best we can with what we know, and when we know better we do better.鈥� But at that point, I didn鈥檛 know any better.鈥�
Like Nero, Kelley-Romano 鈥渄id a lot of pivoting鈥�: away from sports, away from one major to another and then another. 鈥淚 made myself dizzy pivoting between loving lip-gloss and all things pink and simultaneously hating the mass-mediated messages about how I 鈥榮hould鈥� behave and what I 鈥榮hould鈥� want as a woman.”
Her identity, or what she called the performance of her identity, was under scrutiny by multiple audiences 鈥渁nd for the life of me I could not get it right. Maya Angelou has a quote: 鈥榃e do the best we can with what we know, and when we know better we do better.鈥� But at that point, I didn鈥檛 know any better.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 until graduate school that this shifted. Studying rhetoric and the power of language 鈥減rompted me to pivot my attention to critique not only the consequences of calling someone a 鈥榲ictim鈥� vs. a 鈥榮urvivor鈥� but the larger systems and their entrenched histories that put the onus on girls to 鈥榥ot distract鈥� boys with tight clothing, to act 鈥榣ike a lady,鈥� and accept that 鈥榖oys will be boys.鈥欌��
Looking back, she said, the ability to 鈥減ivot between text and context, between exigence and audience, has made me a better scholar, teacher, and citizen.鈥�
Kelley-Romano also spoke as a person in recovery, who has cringed 鈥渨atching the invariably oversimplified depiction of alcoholism and addiction on television and in film.鈥�
But over the years, she鈥檚 seen and continues to track the role of language in reframing addiction, 鈥渇rom a ‘moral weakness鈥� to 鈥榗hemical dependency鈥� and now to 鈥榓 person with substance mis-use disorder.鈥欌�� Each iteration of naming, she said, 鈥渞edefines the agent and attempts to decrease stigma.”
As they concluded their shared talk, Nero and Kelley-Romano offered a Convocation staple: advice to the first-years. She urged the Class of 2024 to get out of their comfort zones, while Nero told them not to be afraid of getting messy as they venture into the unknown.
“Messiness is the beginning of what the late Congressman John Lewis called 鈥榞ood trouble,鈥欌�� Nero said. 鈥淲e know you have been taught how to write the best five-paragraph essay ever. We know you can recite facts and follow formulas. But now we want you to follow your heart, informed by your head to create new ways of thinking and being in the world.鈥�
Perla Figuereo ’21 and Lebanos Mengistu ’21
鈥淲e want to address how difficult this year has been for many folks,鈥� Mengistu said. 鈥淓specially for Black people. We want you all to know that we see you, we hear you, and we stand with you. The injustice that Black folks have faced and continue to face is a challenge on and off campus.”
Student to students, they gave advice.
About academics: 鈥淭ake a class that interests you, one that you could have never imagined yourself taking,鈥� said Figuereo.
About social life: 鈥淎lthough it can be overwhelming at first, try to connect with your classmates and peers. Try to learn something from everyone you meet. Everyone has a story,鈥� said Mengistu.
And about personal life: 鈥淏e comfortable with failure,鈥� said Figuero. 鈥淪eek a balance. Be OK with saying no and yes to things when you feel it’s right. Let yourself fall in love with the new things in your life.鈥�
Brittany Longsdorf
Whew. After all that advice and insight, it was time for the benediction and a 鈥渃ollective, centering breath, ” said Multifaith Chaplain Rev. Brittany Longsdorf. 鈥淟et us sense the sacred, deep togetherness that only pilgrimaging through unknown territory such as this can bring.鈥�
Her final words: 鈥淲e are called to care for one another and this 乐播传媒 Community in ways never asked of us before. May we rise to the occasion with compassion and courage.
鈥淢ay it be so.鈥�
