Opening Convocation for 2026–27 academic year features Governor Tim Walz and major financial aid announcement for Carleton

After concluding the first day of classes, the Carleton community gathered to celebrate the start of the new academic year and recognize students on the Dean’s List with Opening Convocation on September 14, 2026. Skinner Memorial Chapel was packed with students, faculty, and staff as the traditional Bubble Brigade oversaw the event from the Chapel balcony.

This year’s guest speaker was Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who continues a 50-year-long tradition of the state’s highest-ranking elected official speaking at Carleton at some point during their term.

Walz is Minnesota’s 41st Governor, first elected in 2018 and winning re-election in 2022. Accomplishments from his time in office include providing universal free school meals for K-12 students, protecting reproductive freedom, strengthening voting rights, laying the groundwork for Minnesota to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2040, cutting taxes for the middle class, and expanding paid leave for Minnesota workers.

Echoing a sentiment that many have expressed over the decades, Walz began his convocation address by praising the distinction of Carleton’s academics and the beauty of its campus, but ultimately emphasizing that the people of Carleton are what make it such a “jewel” of Minnesota.

The people of Minnesota, including those at Carleton and in Northfield, were a primary focus of Walz’s talk. In recounting the response to Operation Metro Surge earlier this year, Walz highlighted the “humanity-first” nature of Minnesota residents and how much he admired the commitment to “being a good neighbor.”

“Many of you [who] know Northfield, Minnesota, you already know this,” he said, “but to first-year students — there is something different about Minnesota… [For this state], humanity comes first, your neighbor comes first, doing the right thing comes first, compassion and decency come first.”

Walz also admitted to the audience that while he has deeply appreciated his work in politics, he is the most proud of being a teacher, and often feels that the classroom is where he actually had the most impact on people.

“I’m telling you right now,” he said. “Be the teacher, be a nurse, be a small business owner, be on the faculty, be the poet, be the musician, be the community organizer. That’s where change happens.”

Encouragement for current Carls was how Walz wrapped up his address, as he noted the challenges society faces right now and how a Carleton education gives current students the ability to face them.

“This country and this world are going to need this generation,” Walz said. “With the education you get at Carleton, with the friendships and connections you make, with the skills that you have, you’re going to be the ones who figure this out… The people who are here, at an institution like Carleton, [are] our best hope for solving some of the most difficult problems.”

Carleton President Alison Byerly followed Walz with her remarks, thanking him for his leadership, his emphasis on civic education, and his statements that celebrate Northfield, Minnesota as not the middle of nowhere, but rather the “center of everything.”

Byerly’s address acknowledged that Carleton is celebrating a historic milestone this fall: the establishment of Cowling Arboretum 100 years ago, in 1926.

“Carleton is fortunate to own and steward such an extraordinary resource for both recreation and research,” Byerly said. “The Arb provides our community with generous space to hike, run, ski, snowshoe, or bird-watch. It also serves as a living laboratory that reflects the unique biological, geographic, and cultural heritage of this place. As an outdoor classroom for both formal courses and independent research, its impact is felt across the curriculum.”

The Arb “encapsulates the goals and mission of Carleton as a liberal arts college,” Byerly explained, as it is a “place set aside for a special purpose, yet also deeply embedded in the world around it. It is a place where doing and learning are inseparable from one another. And it is a place where seeds that are planted develop into rich landscapes over the course of many years. A liberal arts education, too, is about planting seeds for the future.”

Byerly continued to detail the philosophy behind Carleton’s liberal arts education and discussed challenges currently faced by higher education, including concern about student loan debt. This led to her announcement that beginning in the 2027–28 academic year, Carleton will no longer require loans in any student’s financial aid package.

“We want any student for whom Carleton is the right choice to have the ability to choose Carleton,” Byerly said. “And we want every Carleton student to have the freedom to pursue whatever pathway they choose in the future, without feeling burdened by student debt.”

Read the full announcement of Carleton’s no-loan financial aid policy on Carleton News.

Byerly’s full remarks will be posted on the President’s Office website, and a recording of Opening Convocation will be archived on the Carleton Convocations website.