This morning at 9:45 I joined thousands of first year students in the Mullins Center Arena for the New Students Convocation.  I sat at the back of the Arena, in the center of the uppermost tier of seats, so I had a good view of the crowd: the platform party was directly in front and the Class of 2016 sat with their schools and colleges down below and on all sides.  With the students dressed in their colorful T-shirts, it was an impressive sight.  To a rousing fanfare by the Minuteman Marching Band, faculty in their academic robes marched in.

A full line-up of speakers welcomed the Class of 2016.

Provost James Staros advised students that the transition from high school to college is complex, that the General Education requirements should be used to extend one’s personal horizons, that our talented and accomplished faculty are here to help, as are the Learning Support Centers, and that there are many opportunities such as Study Abroad and the Five College Exchange that are available to enrich the college experience.

Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy noted that he has studied and lived in many cities around the globe and has absorbed much from each place, but that Amherst feels extra special.  Here was the edge of the super-continent Pangaea, here is where Native peoples lived for thousands of years, here was a locus of literary and artistic ferment, as well as a tradition of social activism, all of which have helped shaped our country.   Speaking to one of the themes of the Common Read, the Chancellor reminded students that UMass is a real place, that you cannot delete, mute, or block real people.  He said he hopes that students can learn to both exercise freedom and understand the limits of expression.  He concluded by urging students to “explore UMass with the curiosity of a traveller.”  The real world, he said, needs you; there is so much for you to do here.

Student Government President Akshay Kapoor shared his experience as a new student: his most important concerns on the first day, he said, were What’s my dorm room like, What classes am I taking, and Where do I eat.  But then what?  He noted that college is more than what happens in the classroom.  There are many opportunities for change and growth, he said; his mantra was “get invested, get involved.”

Keynote Speaker Ernest Cline, author of the Common Read novel Ready Player One, noted that he never dreamed that he’d ever be the featured speaker at a college convocation.  He grew up in the Midwest during the 80s, obsessed with computers, science fiction, fantasy, and video games.  His obsession with popular culture led him to collect and study screenplays, and he eventually made a movie about Star Wars fans.  But seeing how the final product differed from his original vision, he wanted his next project to be wholly his and decided to write a novel.  The two pieces of advice he received, “Write what you know” and “Write the book you want to read,” led him to pen Ready Player One, which took almost a decade to finish.  He noted that although he is a fan of the Internet, he wanted to explore the dark side of technology and force readers to confront questions like, What is the future of earth?  Will the US crumble into a dystopia?  He said that the answers lie with the Class of 2016.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life Jean Kim then announced the winners of the Common Read essay contest, Kyle O’Connell, Parisa Zarringhalam, and Chana Zolty.  She then led the audience in affirming community values, which included the pinning ceremony (I never heard of such a thing), and we all sang the UMass Alma Mater.

Finally, the Minuteman Marching Band played the UMass Fight Song (I didn’t even know there was such a thing).  After the academic recessional, the students departed the Mullins Center by college, in this order:

• Undeclared Majors in Maroon
• School of Management in Gray
• Humanities and Fine Arts in Ivory
• Social and Behavioral Sciences in Sage Green
• School of Nursing in Purple
• Engineering in Orange
• Public Health and Health Sciences in Navy Blue
• Stockbridge School in Sky Blue
• Natural Sciences in Kelly Green

After lunch with their respective departments, students met in small groups for a discussion of the Common Read book, Ready Player One.  Earlier in the spring semester, I had volunteered to lead a discussion group, so at 2:15 this afternoon, there I was in E-Lab 325.  I was expecting 35 students, but we were a much smaller group of less then ten young men.  I enjoyed meeting these students and talking about the book with them, but I’m not sure we achieved the “learning objectives.”  Although I’m not a gamer, and had come of age long before the 80s, I did enjoy the book and would recommend it without reservations.