Ceremony Friday highlights week of events around Starr’s inauguration

In 1902, Samuel Palmer Brooks was named the seventh president in Baylor University history. One of his first acts was to write a letter to all Baylor alumni, asking for their assistance in building up the university. On September 3 of that year, a few days after announcing the largest fall enrollment in school history, Brooks gave an inaugural address at the opening of the fall semester. In his speech, Brooks identified several top priorities, including more financial aid for deserving students.

Does any of that sound familiar? It should. On Friday, Kenneth Winston Starr will be inaugurated as Baylor’s 14th president. The Installation Ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. at the Ferrell Center; live video will also be streamed at baylor.edu/inauguration for those who cannot attend. Yale Law School professor Stephen L. Carter, a noted law and religion expert, will be the keynote speaker. A reception will follow the ceremony on the Ferrell Center grounds.

The installation ceremony will be the centerpoint of a week featuring academic, commemorative and community events surrounding the inauguration, beginning with a student rally Wednesday night. Thursday morning, a panel discussion — the first in a series of Presidential Symposiums — will examine “The Role of the Supreme Court in American Society.” The panel will include Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jennifer Elrod, BA ’88, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips, BA ’71, and Newsweek contributing editor Stuart Taylor. (The symposium will also be streamed live online.)

Breakout sessions will follow during the lunch hour, as Baylor law professor David Guinn, JD ’63, BA ’97, and attorney David Guinn Jr., BA ’88, JD ’89, discuss “Packing Heat and the Second Amendment,” while Baylor law professor Michelle Saenz-Rodriguez looks at “Immigration in America — Who’s Really in Charge.” (The topics of both breakout sessions and the symposium are especially fitting given that Friday is also Constitution Day and considering President Starr’s distinguished career as a jurist and Constitutional scholar.)

Come on out to the Ferrell Center or tune in online as Baylor officially installs its 14th president on Friday!

Sic ’em, President Starr!