Spring Convocation Delivers a Rallying Cry to Stillman College's Next Generation of Leaders

Dr. Jamal WatsonStillman College students received a message of hope, courage and liberation during a spring convocation ceremony Jan. 29 at the Tuscaloosa campus, reported The Tuscaloosa News. 

Dr. Jamal Watson, an award-winning journalist and author and the former editor of Diverse: Issues In Higher Education (now The EDU LEDGER), delivered the convocation's keynote speech before holding a book signing for his latest work, The Student Debt Crisis: America's Moral Urgency, published by Broadleaf Books.

The event drew Stillman faculty, staff, alumni and community members to the college's Birthright Auditorium, where the traditional ceremony formally kicked off the spring semester — a milestone moment for an institution celebrating 150 years of education this year.

Watson, who is also a professor and associate dean at Trinity Washington University, grounded his remarks in the weight of Stillman's history. 

Stillman students wait in line to receive a signed copy of The Student Debt Crisis: America's Moral Urgency. Stillman College"I am reminded that this institution was not simply built, it was willed into existence," he said. "It was conjured up by people who understood that education was not a luxury, not a privilege, but a weapon, a tool of liberation, a declaration of possibility in a world that said Black people had no business pursuing higher learning."

He turned that historical lens directly toward the students in attendance. 

"Your very presence here today in these classrooms on this campus is a continuation of that defining act of hope," Watson said.