The Ceremony

The inauguration ceremony incorporates several symbols of the University. Included are the original charter of Emory College, the presidential medallion, the gavel used one hundred years ago by then-President (later Bishop) Warren A. Candler (1888–1898), a set of keys, and a sprig of “the Wesley holly,” which together represent facets of Emory’s legacy.

The hand-written 1836 Charter, housed in Special Collections in Woodruff Library, was last carried in procession at the inauguration of President William M. Chace in 1995. The presidential medallion is the badge of office given to the University in 1965 by the Emory chapter, Gamma of Georgia, of Phi Beta Kappa. Designed by Eric Clements of Birmingham, England, and executed by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London, the solid gold medallion is an open teardrop enclosing the raised seal of the University and is suspended on a gold chain.

Keys to the campus provide symbolic access to the traditions and heritage of Emory. Buildings represented by the keys are Phi Gamma, Emory’s oldest campus building and first hub of student life, erected in 1850 on the original campus of Emory College (now Oxford College); Pitts Theology Library, the oldest academic building on the Atlanta campus; and Lullwater House, the president’s home.

The key to Glenn Memorial Church and the Wesley holly both symbolize Emory’s tie to the Methodist Church. As told by Bishop Candler’s wife, Antoinette, an East Platka holly bush was brought to the Emory campus from Frederica, Georgia, near Savannah, around 1920, during Bishop Candler’s tenure as chancellor of the University. The small holly was found growing out of a fork in a huge live oak under which John Wesley had often preached during his missionary stint in Georgia. Mrs. Candler carefully removed the holly and brought it to the Emory campus. Planted on the Quadrangle near the flagpole, the tree thrived until 1983, when a series of freezes led to bark-split and an infestation of bores. When the tree was removed, twenty-five cuttings were taken, four of which were planted near Candler School of Theology, and one at Oxford College in front of Allen Memorial United Methodist Church.

The Invitation

© 2004, Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia 30322