Commonwealth College welcomes
525 new students

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

he newest recruits to Commonwealth College were encouraged to make the most of their academic experience as the honors program welcomed its incoming class and their parents at a Sept. 1 ceremony in the Mullins Center. The program was followed by a student orientation.

     President William M. Bulger, Chancellor David K. Scott, interim dean Linda Slakey, faculty advisor and retired professor of Biology Arthur Stern, and student Amanda Weaver, '02, addressed the group. The crowd also was entertained by a performance of the Minuteman Marching Band, which played a set that included "Malagueña," UMass' alma mater, "Twilight Shadows," and an arrangement of Santana's 1999 hit "Smooth."

     Bulger encouraged students to take responsibility for their own college experience.
"The most important thing that happens for you here is that you will educate yourselves," he said. "You will have the most excellent faculty ... [but] no one else educates you but you.

     "This is a process, almost a spiritual process in this effort toward self-education. It is what we put forth as individuals that determines whether we will be successful. There will never be a time when you will say, 'I should not have worked so hard.'"

     Weaver also encouraged her fellow students to take an active approach to learning.
"I took advantage of the opportunities from the moment I was accepted into the Honors College," she said. "Commonwealth Honors College has so much to offer you. It's a great avenue to further involvement in the University."

    Scott spoke of the strength of the University and of the students in the audience.

     "You're an extraordinary group of students," he said. "There are 525 of you. Five hundred twenty-five is the class size of Smith, Amherst, Hampshire and Mount Holyoke colleges. You are a group of comparable outstanding students, with the opportunity to take classes there, as well as here, at this large, multicultural, bustling, international, diverse university. We hope that every aspiration that you have will be met in this university."

     Addressing the parents in the audience, Stern cautioned them against worrying that their children will be asked to do too much.

     "The students want as much as they can get from us," he said.

     Part of what they will get, Slakey said, is an opportunity to influence the form the college takes.

     "I'll be looking to you to help me plan and to evolve the college as we go along," she said. "There's still room to shape it."

     Now in its second year of operation, Commonwealth College has an enrollment of 1,325.