The Air Force Academy’s appreciation for diversity and its willingness to respectfully address controversy make the school stronger, said its top officer Feb. 22.

Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen Jay Silveria said this and more to an audience in Arnold Hall to open the 25th National Character and Leadership Symposium.

The two-day symposium will feature “an impressive array of speakers from an amazingly diverse array of backgrounds” Silveria said.

“Some of their stories will inspire and encourage you, others will shock or sadden you, some might anger you and some will make you uncomfortable,” he said. “Each of these reactions are important to our experience here and to our development as leaders.”

The annual symposium gives Academy cadets, staff, and visiting students and faculty from universities across the U.S., a chance to attend presentations and participate in group discussions.

The theme of the event is “Ethics and Respect for Human Dignity, a topic Silveria called “timely and pertinent.”

“It’s one that allows for some healthy introspection as individuals and as organizations, no matter where you’re coming from,” he said.

Academics, military leaders and veterans, senior corporate executives, humanitarians, activists, filmmakers, authors and profession athletes, are slated to speak at NCLS.

“It’s a unique group of leaders who truly challenge the norm,” said Cadet 1st Class Ethan Young, cadet in charge of NCLS. “We encourage you to stretch your thinking. “

Silveria welcomed the scope of the speakers.

“We’re having conversations here and now that weren’t being had, or some even considered here or anywhere else, back when I was a cadet,” he said. “I think that’s truly amazing and something that needs to happen more across our country.”

The event list includes Holocaust survivor Dr. Ruth Westheimer; international human rights attorney Virginia Prodan; Academy Summit Everest team member Maj. Colin Merrin; counter-terrorism and public safety authority Dr. Erroll Southers; sexual assault and domestic violence consultant Anne Munch; and philosopher and social critic Cornell West.