First convocation for grad students held

Freshmen have long been welcomed with open arms to the University with a convocation with pomp and speeches from the administration. Graduate students were finally given a ceremony to call their own yesterday, and about 300 were officially welcomed at a packed ceremony at College Hall. Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Chairperson Michael Goldstein, who has pushed for the creation of such a ceremony, said the ceremony is long overdue. "It bothered me that the University officially and formally welcomed undergraduates to campus but did not do the same for graduate and professional students," Goldstein said earlier this week. President Sheldon Hackney, Provost Michael Aiken, Vice Provost for University Life Kim Morrisson and others addressed the students -- enrolled in programs at all of the 12 schools at the University -- in an attempt to help prevent the problems commonly associated with graduate student life. Hackney discussed the issue of political correctness at the University, a topic he used for his commencement address, explaining that while there is political correctness on campus, "it is not dominant and does not go unchallenged." "Proponents of different ideas must be represented on campus," he said. Morrisson identified isolation as a common problem among graduate students, advising that the students attempt to look beyond the confines of their individual schools and "get to know what the University and the city of Philadelphia has to offer." "You are also part of the larger universe that is the University," she said. Goldstein agreed, explaining that one of the purposes of the assembly and the following reception was to promote friendships among students from different schools. "[This may be] one of the only times that a Vet student will run into a student from the School of Education," he added.

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