Union College Opens the School Year with Fall Convocation Featuring Dr. Aaron Thompson Delivering the Address

There was standing room only in Conway Boatman Chapel for Union College's Fall Convocation. An estimated 500 students, faculty and staff, trustees and community members attended the event featuring nationally recognized speaker Dr. Aaron Thompson. Thompson delivered his address on the topic of diversity.

Dr. Thompson, a member of the Kentucky Humanities Council speaker's bureau, delivered the Convocation address entitled: Four Steps to Living and Unbiased Life. "It's impossible to run away from the fact that we are a diverse population. We are a diverse society. We have diverse beliefs," Thompson said.

Thompson, a native of Clay County, Kentucky, has developed an extensive list of accomplishments. "Entrepreneur, teacher, trainer and public servant, Thompson has received many recognitions and awards, published three books, written chapters in others and has written many articles," Union College President Edward de Rosset said as he introduced the speaker. "He is a person who embodies much of what our college stands for as emblemized by the medallions on our Mace: the love of learning; spiritual quest; civic responsibility and integrity of character."

Thompson, whose roots are in the Appalachian Mountains, opened his address with comments on the region. "Every time I'm in this part of the country, I always think of myself as being blessed. This is central Appalachia and this is home." He then turned his attention to Union's students challenging them to keep an open mind about the topic of diversity.

"I'm going to challenge you as college students. Spend a few minutes with me-with an open mind and the realization that you are on a campus-a place of higher education. A place that, in fact, garners everything that we can ever imagine what higher education can be about and that's actually having the opportunity to learn," Thompson said.

Thompson went on to explain the four steps to living an unbiased life with the first of those steps being to know what you believe and why you believe it. Thompson explained that by acknowledging your beliefs, you have taken the first step in an attempt to change a belief system created through experiences and the influence of family and peers. He went on to explain the second and third steps were to know how your beliefs affect other people and how they affect yourself and your loved ones. These two steps identify whether your beliefs have a negative or positive affect on the people around you. The fourth step, according to Thompson, is the action stage. "Once you taken yourself through the first three stages, what action are you going to take? What are you going to put into place to do something about your belief system," he said.

Thompson told the audience that a college campus holds the solution, "Most of our bias come with a lack of knowledge and not having any idea of what the truth is." He continued saying, "Find the truth. Meet someone who you believe is different than you and you choose what that belief is. Spend time to get to know that person. It's quite amazing what dialogue can do."

Dr. Thompson is a nationally recognized speaker available to Union through the Kentucky Humanities Council speaker's bureau. Since 1972, the council has invested more than $7 million in Kentucky communities through programs that address historical and cultural topics.

Fall Convocation is an annual event that marks the opening of the academic year. Convocation also introduces incoming freshmen to Union's spiritual life and humanities programs, to the college's administration and student government leadership. The Rev. James Doughton of the First United Methodist Church of Barbourville delivered the Convocation's invocation and the Rev. David Miller, college minister, delivered the benediction.

September 15, 2004

 

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