Library District
Citadel City, Havensky
University President James Gatling smiled his wide smile as he walked the halls of the Grand Library. He was an older bald man long since retired from the grind of the business world and now relished his job of leading the growth of the best university in Gholgoth.
Managing a new university wasn’t exactly a bed or roses, but Gatling enjoyed his job. Citadel University was unique. It’s location on the coast of Citadel City allowed for unparalleled views of both the city skyline and Rico Bay. The city’s reputation for being a great destination for foreign travelers combined with the stellar reputation of Citadel City’s professors had enabled the university to attract a large and diverse student body.
In particular, the College of Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs attracted applicants from around the world who wanted to get a more global education. The College of Technology didn’t do so bad either in terms of attracting bright minds. His own College of Business was the largest, but he wasn’t allowed to play favorites.
Gatling still managed to teach some graduate level business classes, but most of his days were spent in meetings going over a variety of different administrative things. There was the budget, preparations to ask the board for more funding, building contracts, preparations to ask the board for permission to build more buildings, the reports from all the colleges, meeting with elected officials, meeting with the student body president, and finally meeting with his administrative assistant so that he could review all the notes from all the meetings.
It was an understatement to say that the university president was a busy man.
However, Gatling had made sure he had blocked out enough time in his calendar for this. The Citadel University Presidential Lecture Series. He had sent out invitations to political, business, and academic leaders to speak at the Library’s Windcharmer Auditorium. The venue was beautiful. The Grand Library was built like a cathedral to the learned arts. While most of the college was built with modern materials, the Grand Library was special. It had stone walls, stained glassed windows, and oak wood floors. The footsteps of students, particularly those wearing heels, echoed throughout the halls. Though, the days of students being in uniforms were long over. The students were a varied bunch from hoodies to suits to jeans to dresses. Gatling himself always wore a suit and tie - usually in red/blue colors of the Citadel University. As president, he felt a duty to be the biggest "Rook" fan of them all. Although, he didn't go to games bare chested and painting himself red/blue like the student body president did.
The Windcharmer Auditorium faced just to the south and the stained glass told the story of Prometheus stealing fire from the gods. If one looked closely, you could see Prometheus carrying fire across the heavens and down to earth as the sun traveled from left to right, The auditorium was perfectly suited for the lectures. The audience could seat five hundred people and each seat had it’s own pair of headphones that could provide translations in a variety of languages. The auditorium had camera equipment that could record the lectures for future use. It also boasted a small coffee and wine bar in the next suite called “The Speaker’s Lounge”. Gatling had arranged the series so that lecturers had the option of sitting behind the bar so that students could ask questions more one on one questions after the speech with the bartender helping to shuttle students on when their time was up.
For students, the series was free of charge and students were expected to attend at least once a month. People could also buy a ticket to the lecture which helped to fund travel for speakers. For Gatling, it was important that students hear from a variety of perspectives - and not just the traditional Skyan liberal ones either. Critical thinking was a prime virtue at the university and it was important for students to hear alternative points of view. Hate speech wasn’t tolerated of course. And there was one occasion where the speaker was being insulting to a minority group and the students responded by throwing cups of hot coffee at them - but for the most part the students would listen politely.
Gatling walked through the door of the auditorium and took out his notes. It was time to introduce one of the first speakers of the series.
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