On Oct. 16, Stony Brook University hosted its annual Commons Day seminar for first-year students with guest speaker, writer and transgender rights activist, Janet Mock. Commons Day is a yearly event in which the author of the first-year reading requirement comes and speaks to students and staff.

Stony Brook University freshmen and other outside guests filed their way into the Island Federal Credit Union Arena to listen to a Q&A between President Stanley and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday.