Samford University will welcome some 4,400 students to campus this week for the start of the school's 162nd academic year.
About 700 freshmen will arrive on campus by Thursday, Aug. 21, for their final orientation to campus life. Four days of activities will include special assemblies, recreation and small group meetings.
A session on community activism will be based on their summer reading assignment, the book "Why We Can't Wait," by Martin Luther King, Jr. History professor Jonathan Bass and pastor Gerald Austin of Birmingham's New City Church will lead the discussion.
Members of the freshman class were chosen from a record 2,066 applicants to Samford.
Samford upperclassmen will begin moving in Friday, Aug. 22, and classes will start Monday, Aug. 25. Opening convocation will be Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 10 a.m. in Wright Center Concert Hall.