Details announced for Nov. 5 inauguration ceremony

Monday, October 25, 2004, By News Staff

Details announced for Nov. 5 inauguration ceremonyOctober 25, 2004Matthew R. Snydermrsnyder@syr.edu

Nancy Cantor will be formally installed as the 11th Chancellor and President of Syracuse University in a grand ceremony in the Carrier Dome, Nov. 5 at 10:30 a.m. The Central New York community and all members and friends of the Syracuse University family are invited. The morning will include a traditional academic procession, performances, presentations and other celebratory activities. A picnic box lunch on the turf will follow. The event is free and open to the public and does not require tickets; free parking at Skytop and shuttle bus service will be available.

Many students, faculty, staff and community members will play roles in the event, which launches a year of activities designed around the theme “University as Public Good: Exploring the Soul of Syracuse.”

The ceremony will encompass-and extend far beyond-the traditions, trappings and ornate regalia marking the historical significance of the inauguration, which will be attended by approximately 100 presidents and other delegates sent by other colleges and universities. All guests will be treated to highlights including:

  • Live music by student, faculty, staff and community members of the SU Brass Ensemble, SU Symphony Orchestra and Black Celestial Choral Ensemble; individual and group performances of the National Anthem and SU alma mater; and the debut of a piece by faculty member Joseph Downing commissioned for the inauguration;
  • A storytelling performance of fantastic proportions, in which Students Offering Service Director Frances Parks and the giant puppets of the Open Hand Theater will musically act out the words of Zora Neale Hurston with help from more than 20 SU students and Open Hand’s professional puppeteers;
  • Declarations on the theme “I Am the Soul of Syracuse” by members of the University and Central New York communities;
  • reetings from Sidney Hill, Tadodaho, Onondaga Nation and Haudenosaunee Confederacy; Oren Lyons ’58, Onondaga faithkeeper and professor of American studies at the University at Buffalo; Cornell University President Jeffrey S. Lehman; and University of Michigan Board of Regents Chair Rebecca McGowan;
  • “Street fair” entertainment during the lunch on the turf, with songs and dances by student groups including Raices, Danceworks, Kalabash, Creations, Groovestand, Main Squeeze, the Mandarins and Orange Appeal. Diners will enjoy gourmet wraps, local produce and, of course, oranges.

SU administrative units have been asked to close so that all staff can attend the event; faculty and students have been invited to use the Dome as their instructional setting on Friday morning. The public will find complimentary parking in the Skytop parking lot on South Campus. Starting at 9 a.m., shuttle bus service will run continuously between the parking lot behind the Skytop Office Building and SU’s main campus.

Also Nov. 5, SU will host an inaugural symposium titled “Universities and Moral Responsibility: Respecting Humanity at Home and Abroad” from 1-5:30 p.m. in the Schine Student Center’s Goldstein Auditorium. The discussion will be free and open to the public, as will several inaugural art exhibitions: “Diverse Voices from the Light Work Collection,” in the lower-level lobby of Goldstein; Light Work’s “A Conversation With the World,” featuring the work of Lonnie Graham, at the Robert B. Menschel Media Center, 316 Waverly Ave.; the public unveiling of an inaugural installation by Sol LeWitt ’49 on the hill in front of Crouse College; and “Surrender,” a video installation by Bill Viola ’73 at the Menschel Center. Free parking at Skytop and buses will be available throughout the afternoon for those who attend the symposium and exhibitions.

The Nov. 5 events represent the formal launch of Cantor’s yearlong plan for “University as Public Good: Exploring the Soul of Syracuse,” which uses the opportunity of her inaugural year to engage the University and its extended communities in the exploration of four fundamental questions: What do we mean by “liberal education”? What critical societal issues can we tackle? How can Syracuse build on its unique historical landscape, which has served as an arena in the struggle for the rights of women, slaves and Native Americans? And in a society where knowledge is power, how should the University serve as a power broker?

Those who wish to attend the morning ceremony and lunch on the turf are asked to RSVP at http://soulofsyracuse.syr.edu/register to help organizers plan the luncheon.