Hamilton's Class & Charter Day celebration, an annual convocation recognizing student and faculty excellence during the preceding academic year, will take place on Friday, May 6, at 12:15 p.m. in the Chapel. This year's speaker is Edmund A. LeFevre Professor of English Emeritus and Lecturer in English John H. O’Neill whose topic is “‘A Nest of Singing Birds’: Writers at Hamilton.” The ceremony will be available online via live webcast.
An all-campus picnic will follow the awards from 11:30 to 3 p.m. in Sage Rink and from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. in Commons, and HamTrek, the eighth annual campus triathlon, will begin at 2 p.m.
Among other Class & Charter Day events, a concert featuring Sam Adams, The White Panda and Applewagon will begin at 2 p.m. on the Turf Field (rain site is the Fillius Events Barn).
In addition, the women’s lacrosse team will host the Liberty League Tournament at Steuben Field on May 6 and 7. In Friday’s first round top-seeded Hamilton takes on No. 4 seed Skidmore College at 2 p.m., and No. 2 Union will face No. 3 Rensselaer in the second semi-final at 4 p.m.
Student and faculty award winners will be posted after the event on the Class & Charter Day website.
The first Class and Charter Day was held in 1950. It was the brainchild of then President Robert W. McEwen, who sought to combine the traditional Class Day (originally the last Wednesday of classes when students annually held games, athletic and singing contests, and various other extracurricular activities) with commemoration of the anniversary of the granting of the College's Charter on May 26, 1812.
Noting that Class Day then fell close to the College's "birthday," he conceived the idea of having a convocation in the Chapel to hear an address by an alumnus, faculty member, historian or trustee whose subject would be something related to Hamilton's history and traditions. The occasion also came to include recognition of students with honors and awards. Afterwards, the day would be given over to student fun and games. That tradition has been continued at the College ever since.
