They used all one font so you know it’s ~official~

If you stood in that exhaustive line for dinner at the Barnard Block Party last Tuesday, or even just glanced at the lawn outside the Diana, you probably noticed a table full of colorful T-shirts that various administrators and administrative hangers-on were shoving at students. Those shirts were Barnard’s annual advertising push for Convocation – that time-honored event in which all professors are required to wear unflattering robes and the first-years whose electric candles don’t work are cursed with bad lottery numbers for the rest of college.  (Students who attend the event are supposed to wear their new class color shirt.)

The next incarnation of this hallowed tradition will take place today, September 12, at 4:30 pm in Riverside Church. This year’s Convocation will be particularly notable, as it will be the first time President Beilock addresses the full Barnard community; all Barnard classes held around 4 pm tomorrow have been cancelled so that students can attend the event. The speeches will have a bit of a psychology theme, as President Beilock is expected to speak about her experience in psychology research, and the featured speaker is Carol Dweck, BC ’67, a leading scientist in the field of motivation and professor of psychology at Stanford.

At the same time this afternoon, the Barnard Contingent Faculty Union will be holding a “counter-convocation” rally outside the Barnard main gates. This rally will be in support of Georgette Fleischer, a leader of the union who was not reappointed as a professor this semester.

Convocation invitation via Barnard (Dean Hinkson’s email)