Convocation is the opening ceremony of the academic year. Taken from the Latin convocare, it means to call together an assembly. On August 31, we did just that. We called together our campus community to welcome the academic year and to begin our shared pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.

What I asked of those gathered for Opening Convocation was to think of ourselves as more than just gathering as an assembly. I asked that they think of us as a community embarking on a journey together. I asked that they hold in their minds and in their hearts the vision of Hollins as a community fueled by love. A love that binds us one to the other; a love that binds us to learning and to the liberal arts; and a love that binds us to this community of our beloved Hollins.

I also asked those present at convocation to recognize the unifying, connecting gift of love as an imperative for the liberal arts. My favorite essay, William Cronon’s “ ‘Only Connect…’ The Goals of a Liberal Education,” beautifully explains the type of education we are so privileged to experience at Hollins:

“Liberal education aspires to nurture the growth of human talent in the service of human freedom.”

Further, he argues that those of us educated in the liberal arts tradition share 10 qualities:

They listen and they hear.

They read and they understand.

They can talk with anyone.

They can write clearly and persuasively and movingly.

They can solve a wide variety of puzzles and problems.

They respect rigor not so much for its own sake but as a way of seeking truth.

They practice humility, tolerance, and self-criticism.

They understand how to get things done in the world.

They nurture and empower the people around them.

Cronon adds as number 10, “Being an educated person means being able to see connections that allow one to make sense of the world and act within it in creative ways.”

I believe with my whole heart that those 10 traits are what we do daily at Hollins and reflect who we are at our core. Cronon’s concluding sentiment is, for me, his most compelling:

“Liberal education nurtures human freedom in the service of human community, which is to say that in the end it celebrates love. Whether we speak of our schools or our universities or ourselves, I hope we will hold fast to this as our constant practice, in the full depth and richness of its many meanings: Only connect.”

My goal for our campus community this year is a variation of “only connect.” I want us to look out for one another, to support one another, to lift one another. Our liberal arts education commands that we truly connect.

When we choose to see one another’s humanity; when we choose to see the purpose of our work and liberal arts as connecting, it leaves us no choice in the end but to work — daily — to become the beloved community. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote:

“But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends.

The type of love that I stress here is not eros, a sort of esthetic or romantic love; not philia, a sort of reciprocal love between personal friends; but it is agape, which is understanding goodwill for all. It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. This is the love that may well be the salvation of our civilization.”

My most fervent hope for each of us individually, and all of us collectively, is that we work toward goodwill for all. That our collective responsibility and mutual accountability will extend to how we see and care for each individual as we accept responsibility for creating the beloved community. This will be daily work; difficult work; enduring work. But it is the work that we — a community fueled by love — can undertake.

Levavi Oculos!