Faculty, administration pledge to support students at induction
ceremony
Emceeing Dalhousie’s 2014 induction ceremony, provost and vice-president academic Carolyn Watters began with a request of the audience.
“Before we get started with induction,” said Watters, “I want everyone with a cell phone to take it out and take a selfie so you can get it out in four years when you’re graduating.”
Until university president Richard Florizone took the stage, the floor and balcony of the Rebecca Cohn auditorium saw the waving hands of hundreds of first-year students taking selfies.
The induction ceremony is the university’s official welcome to new students. Faculty heads, members of administration and the DSU council executive members were among those present on stage.
A Dalhousie scarf was draped over every seat in the building. After greeting the audience, Florizone asked all new students to stand and wear their scarves.
“The symbolism here is that in three, four, five years time, depending on the length of your degree program,” said Florizone, “you will be standing here again, putting on your degree hood.”
Incoming students are not required to attend the induction ceremony, but the students who show up are asked to swear a pledge.
“Will you, as Dalhousie University students, promise to uphold and protect the integrity, good character and scholarly legacy of Dalhousie University?” asked Florizone. “Please respond, ‘I will.’ ”
“I will,” said the audience.
“Welcome to Dalhousie University’s community of scholars,” said Florizone, before asking another pledge of the faculty and administration present on the stage.
“Will you, as Dalhousie University faculty and staff, promise to provide our students with an enriched educational experience; with academic challenge through active and collaborative interactions; and with a supportive and engaging campus environment?”
“I will,” said those on stage.
The president’s induction speech focused on the firsts in life that are experienced at university, and what makes Dalhousie special.
“We know you had to be smart and capable to get into Dal,” said Florizone, “but you’re actually quite unique for at least two reasons.”
His two reasons were the diversity of Dal’s student population, and that a high percentage of Dal students focus on out-of-classroom achievements.
Florizone said Dalhousie has more out-of-province students than any other big university in the country. He added that more than 3,000 international students from over 100 countries choose to study at Dal.
“That diversity is part of our DNA and our founding heritage. When Lord Dalhousie established this university in 1818,” said Florizone, “he envisioned a college with access for all, regardless of class or religious belief.”
“A radical view for its time, even if its benefits seem obvious today.”
Ending his speech, Florizone announced he’d be taking the first class photo of the year.
“So you’ll all retweet this, right? You can follow me @DalPres,” said Florizone to laughter, scanning his phone over the crowd. “Here we go. Give me a big smile.”
The next speaker was DSU president Ramz Aziz, beginning with a request for a moment of reflection that the Dalhousie Arts Centre is on Mi’Kmaq land.
“It is thanks and generosity and sacrifice of the Mi’Kmaq people that we are here today,” said Aziz.
Aziz encouraged students to discover their own definitions of success and failure.
“We’re all told to be scared of it, but as this year’s extremely passionate and slightly unhinged DSU president, I encourage you to fail,” said Ramz.
“That’s how you learn. That’s how you figure out what you’re good at and what you’re not.”
During the induction speeches, selfies and crowd pictures were continuously taken on stage.
The Rebecca Cohn auditorium, with a seating capacity of 1,040, was full shortly after the first words from the stage.
A group of freshmen arriving late were taken to sit at the back of the stage in rows of chairs seated among faculty and student council executives.
The event proceeded as they took pictures, at least one of which would be retweeted by Florizone later on.
Near the end of his speech, Aziz asked the audience whether they had seen the movie The Dark Knight Rises.
“What I’m trying to say is that, each one of you has a little Bane in them,” said Aziz, referencing the supervillain of Batman lore.
“Everybody knows Bane, right? When you start university, it’ll be hard for you to manage your own schedule, just classes.
“But by the end of it, you’ll not only be doing your classes, you’ll be doing jobs, you’ll be volunteering, you’ll be running societies, you’ll have pet projects on the side.
“Soon the little Bane that’s in you will go from not being able to juggle stuff, to grabbing the university experience’s back and just crushing it completely,” Aziz said, mocking a scene from the film where Bane cripples Batman with a backbreaker wrestling move.
“So, what I’m trying to say is this ain’t a movie, but it’s your story nonetheless. And that’s what it means to discover yourself.”
On behalf of the DSU executive, Aziz wished the incoming class “the most memorable and fondest of memories, the most formative of failures, and the most satisfying savory successes.”
The final speaker was Danny Shanahan, Vice President Student Life of the DSU.
Shanahan encouraged the class of 2018 to explore as much as they can while they’re in Halifax, and asked the audience for a final pledge.
“Are you going to make the most out of your next four, five, potentially six years of your life here at Dalhousie, in Halifax, in Nova Scotia, the best times of your life? If you hear me,” said Shanahan, “let me hear you say, ‘Oh yeah.’ ”
The audience erupted in “Oh yeah.” Soon, freshmen carried their new scarves off to the next events of orientation week.
Miranda Frison, a first-year Integrated Science student from Alberta, says she attended the ceremony because she wants to learn more about Dalhousie and she wanted to get out of her comfort zone.
“Getting to see the faculty a bit was helpful, even though I don’t know who they are yet. Getting the scarf was pretty cool,” says Frison.
“It gave me goosebumps after they were like, ‘These are symbols that afterwards you’re going to come and you’re actually going to graduate here.’ ”
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