The Convocation is the culmination of a weeklong student orientation.
By Lindsay Tice
Staff Writer

LEWISTON- Bates College officially opened its 149th year Wednesday with an annual convocation and welcome dedicated to the school’s 500 new students.

Aaron David Miller, president of Seeds of Peace and advisor to six U.S. secretaries of state, delivered the keynote address. Miller said that he was happy to give the address as a small thank you to Maine for “opening up their hearts and minds to Seeds of Peace,” an Otisfield summer camp for children from warring regions.

In his 20-minute speech, which centered on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the possibility of peace, Miller told hundreds of Bates students, faculty and alumni that the United States alone has the power and the responsibility to lead negotiations between the factions.

If either side gives up on peace, he warned, “it essentially means abandoning the future.” And no one has the right to do that, he said.

The theme of the speech tied into the Bates freshmen’s required summer reading book, “Longitudes and Attitudes,” by Thomas J. Friedman. The book explores the circumstances surrounding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

After Miller’s address, Bates President Elaine Tuttle Hansen urged the new students to take advantage of the opportunities that will surround them but to beware of paying “continuous partial attention” to thousands of things rather than concentrating deeply on a few.

“Four years at Bates offers you the time and resources to cultivate the practice of sustained attention,” she said.

The hourlong convocation ended a week of orientation activities for first year students at the small private liberal arts. Classes started Wednesday morning.

ltice@sunjournal.com

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