On Friday, September 16, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) addressed some 4,000 members of the Boston College community at the University’s First-Year Academic Convocation in Conte Forum. The annual event began with a ceremonial procession by the Class of 2009 from Gasson Hall to Conte Forum, where they heard talks from Obama and University President William P. Leahy, SJ. During summer orientation, freshmen had received a copy of Obama’s book Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (Three Rivers Press, 1995). Read about Obama’s talk in the independent student newspaper The Heights and about last year’s inaugural convocation in Boston College Magazine.