The College officially opens the academic year today with the 224th Convocation excercises in Leede Arena, featuring speeches by film maker Ken Burns and College President James Freedman.
Student Assembly President Nicole Artzer '94 is also slated to speak at the 11 a.m. ceremony.
Convocation, which marks the beginning of the academic year, is a formal ritual that features the full faculty dressed in academic robes designating their degree of education. It is also the first and often the only time during the year that the College President addresses the students and faculty together.
At Convocation last year, then-Student Assembly President Andrew Beebe '93 shocked many students by advocating the formation of a co-ed Greek system. Artzer, who ran on a ticket that advocated a status-quo Greek system, plans to speak on community at Dartmouth.
Burns, a documentary film producer for 15 years, is best known for creating a television series on the Civil War broadcast in September, 1990. He is currently producing and directing a nine-part series on baseball.
A native of Walpole, N.H., Burns received a bachelor's degree from Hampshire College in 1975. President Freedman will present Burns with an honorary doctorate in humane letters at the convocation ceremony.
