Pomp and circumstance were everywhere in the EMU Ballroom on Friday afternoon; music reminiscent of the popular depiction of college graduation echoed through the halls. Faculty and staff in academic robes and caps filed in procession and took a seat, and then a series of speakers, including University President Dave Frohnmayer, talked about how far the University has come in the 125 years since its founding.
It was Convocation, the University’s annual ceremony to mark the beginning of the academic school year, and it was a chance for faculty and staff to reflect on the University during its 125th anniversary.
Frohnmayer talked of the historical context in which the University was founded: Ulysses S. Grant was finishing his presidency, George Armstrong Custer had recently had his “last stand” and only one-fourth of 1 percent of Oregonians had college degrees. Since 1876, the world’s population has seen space travel, pogroms and the introduction of television.
“It was a different world,” Frohnmayer said, “but it was in many ways the same world.”
Frohnmayer said “this new age we are living in” will be named by future generations, and the University and other academic institutions will play an important role in this.
“I would hope that it is not labeled the age of despair, the age of hopelessness or the age of destruction,” Frohnmayer said. “Instead, we will continue to think anew. … This is how we will name our age.”
University Senate President Nathan Tublitz said when the school was founded, it offered three majors: classical studies, science studies and normal studies.
“The normal studies program was abolished in 1885,” Tublitz said. “Maybe that’s why our academic brethren slightly to the north consider us somewhat eccentric.”
As the Convocation ceremony ended and its participants filed out of the ballroom, people talked of the importance of University traditions.
Anthropology professor Madonna Moss said it was unfortunate more of the University’s community did not attend.
“I think it’s important for us as a culture to think about the past,” Moss said.
Although the ballroom was filled to almost two-thirds capacity, the crowd was mostly older, and there were few if any students present.
At 4 p.m., several professors gave remarks about 1876, and following them was the premiere of the documentary “A History of the University of Oregon: The Founding.” The video is the first in a two-part series about the University’s early years, and is written, narrated and directed by journalism associate professor Rebecca Force.
Convocation literally means a gathering, but the word has religious overtones stemming from its original use to signify a gathering of churches or a church congregation. Now the word is used to describe many things: At Georgia Southern University, a convocation is a twice-monthly gathering of the student body to listen to primarily religious messages from the school; at many other schools, a convocation is basically a freshman introductory seminar.