Convocation marks the start of the academic year and welcomes incoming students to the scholarly world of the university. The event is festive and resonates with the centuries-old tradition of inducting scholars into the community of the academy.
This year’s convocation speaker is Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Center for Public Policy, University of Pennsylvania. Jamieson has frequently asserted that it is incumbent on America’s leaders to tell the citizenry “truths it does not want to hear.” Such statements are part of the reason syndicated columnist Paul Greenberg recently dubbed Jamieson the “magisterial arbiter of American eloquence.” She has long excelled at guiding Americans to more insightful analysis of the world.
The UO Channel is pleased to present Kathleen Kamieson’s keynote speech, with an introduction by UO President Dave Frohnmayer.