The Spirit of a New Semester

There were scores, if not hundreds, of welcoming events over the past few days at Georgetown. Academic leaders welcomed new faculty, undergrads, and graduate students to their new homes. Staff and administrators welcomed families accompanying their students into the larger Georgetown community.

Each event had separate messages, relevant to the audience. Saturday’s new student convocation was filled with ritual, with first-year students, before they even had attended a single class session, donning their graduation robes, reciting the honor pledge and being introduced school-by-school as the class of 2028. Transfer students were equally welcomed. The convocation this year enjoyed the best weather I can remember. The weather added to predictable joy of the event. Even the tears shed by families were mixed with laughter and pride.

Later, the new graduate student induction took place in Gaston Hall and, reflecting our growth in graduate programs, the hall was filled. Remarks focused on advice to interact with other students outside of class, form study groups, connect as student members to the professional associations connected with the program, and begin to read the journals of the field, to build the muscle of keeping up with the field.

The new faculty orientation was a two-day affair. In addition to the necessary information about payroll and benefits, there was much content about their roles as instructors and researchers/scholars. So, school deans and vice provosts describe the environment that we’re seeking to build to support faculty careers. Faculty leaders described the shared governance within Georgetown. Jesuit leadership described how the lived values of Georgetown animate from a tradition that is centuries old.

On Saturday, the deans of each school welcomed parents and students who enrolled in their programs.

Throughout the sessions, one of the themes, often repeated multiple times in the same ceremony, was dialogue across differences. Many speakers noted that we live in a fractured world, with polarized groups avoiding contact with each other. The oldest cleavages in human populations are re-emerging, conflicts based on religion, race, ethnicity, immigrant status, wealth, language, and culture. The polarization in the United States is evident to us but similar division exist in much of the world. Many speakers talked of the need for our new students to reach out and meet those quite different from themselves. They acknowledged that this might take some courage and trust that such an approach would not lead to a social media canceling.

Another theme was the spiritual side of beginning a new stage of higher education. Some speakers talked about Georgetown’s effort to build community with strong diversity attributes, as an aspiration motivated by the Jesuit values underlying the university. Others noted the social support that classmates can offer one another, uplifting spirts when tough times are encountered. Much talk focused on how faculty were devoted to the whole student, caring not just about their intellectual development but their formation as a caring, empathetic person for others.

Of course, the most complete evoking the spiritual was the Mass of the Holy Spirit, a traditional start of the academic year at all Jesuit schools. This was held in Gaston Hall. The large auditorium was packed with new and returning students. The mass was concelebrated with many of the resident Jesuits on campus. It symbolizes a collective invocation of the Holy Spirit to inspire wisdom, courage, and compassion. It reflects the Jesuit commitment to integrating faith and education, emphasizing the importance of spiritual growth alongside intellectual development. The ceremony seeks to foster a sense of unity and purpose among participants, reinforcing the Jesuit values of service, justice, and the pursuit of truth.

All in all, we’ve started the year, filled with guidance along many dimensions – from how to study and learn, to how to teach, to how to support one another, to how to gain divine inspiration.

Let the year begin!