Cry Havoc
Staff Editorial
Issue date: 10/1/02 Section: From WCL
- Page 1 of 1
"O! Pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, that I am meek and gentle with these butchers."
- Julius Caesar.
At the end of the three-year saga known as law school, we come together with our friends, family and loved ones to celebrate our entrance into the exalted ranks of juris doctors. Wearing our robes and funny hats, we cheer on friends with whom we have shared late night spading assignments, outlining for closed book exams, and writing briefs for legal rhetoric. And finally, when our name is called, we march onto the stage, revel in our moment of fame and give the obligatory diploma wave. This is our final memory of law school, and likely the first thing we will recall when the Alumni office calls us for cash.
All that could very well change. Our beloved tradition of WCL commencement has become an inconvenience to the Man On The Hill, AU President Benjamin Ladner. And like a sci-fi space villain, he is bent on assimilating our own uniqueness into his collective. His proposal is this: we will be lumped in with the rest of the AU seniors and graduate school diploma winners to listen to a graduation speaker on a day other than graduation at a ceremony which our parents and loved ones cannot attend. Then, our graduation ceremony will be on the same day as all other AU graduations, which gives the administration no time to print diplomas or calculate latin honors before commencement. Those students a few credits shy will be shown the door, and there will be no winter commencement for LL.M. students.
In short, this proposal is wretched. It shows an utter lack of respect for the institution we know and love, for the students, faculty and alumni, and for the traditions that have shaped this law school for so many years. Interestingly, when AU acquired WCL and AU became our parent institution, AU agreed to respect the traditions of WCL. This is a blatant revocation of that promise.
Avoiding the assembly line approach to education is the very reason we came to this school, for which we have paid a premium and of which AU receives its largess. Many LL.M. students graduate in December because their country's academic year runs opposite ours and they cannot obtain the visas or financial resources to return in May for a spring graduation. And yet the international LL.M. program is a crown jewel of the school; to shuttle these students off in a "so long and thanks for the check" manner can only undermine the reputation of the program.
Furthermore, the interests of WCL students are very different from the interests of AU undergrads and we will likely select a different graduation speaker than the undergraduates. Under Ladner's new plan, we must all listen to one speaker who will address the graduation aspirations of AU undergraduate students, business school graduates and law school graduates alike. For us, an inspirational speech it will not be.
We must admit, President Ladner has played this one smart. By delaying the implementation of these proposed changes until next year, he can drop the bomb, let the students stomp and rant, and then over the summer when everyone is gone, work out some compromise which saves AU money. The question is, are we willing to usurp his authority and take our pomp and circumstance elsewhere?
- Julius Caesar.
At the end of the three-year saga known as law school, we come together with our friends, family and loved ones to celebrate our entrance into the exalted ranks of juris doctors. Wearing our robes and funny hats, we cheer on friends with whom we have shared late night spading assignments, outlining for closed book exams, and writing briefs for legal rhetoric. And finally, when our name is called, we march onto the stage, revel in our moment of fame and give the obligatory diploma wave. This is our final memory of law school, and likely the first thing we will recall when the Alumni office calls us for cash.
All that could very well change. Our beloved tradition of WCL commencement has become an inconvenience to the Man On The Hill, AU President Benjamin Ladner. And like a sci-fi space villain, he is bent on assimilating our own uniqueness into his collective. His proposal is this: we will be lumped in with the rest of the AU seniors and graduate school diploma winners to listen to a graduation speaker on a day other than graduation at a ceremony which our parents and loved ones cannot attend. Then, our graduation ceremony will be on the same day as all other AU graduations, which gives the administration no time to print diplomas or calculate latin honors before commencement. Those students a few credits shy will be shown the door, and there will be no winter commencement for LL.M. students.
In short, this proposal is wretched. It shows an utter lack of respect for the institution we know and love, for the students, faculty and alumni, and for the traditions that have shaped this law school for so many years. Interestingly, when AU acquired WCL and AU became our parent institution, AU agreed to respect the traditions of WCL. This is a blatant revocation of that promise.
Avoiding the assembly line approach to education is the very reason we came to this school, for which we have paid a premium and of which AU receives its largess. Many LL.M. students graduate in December because their country's academic year runs opposite ours and they cannot obtain the visas or financial resources to return in May for a spring graduation. And yet the international LL.M. program is a crown jewel of the school; to shuttle these students off in a "so long and thanks for the check" manner can only undermine the reputation of the program.
Furthermore, the interests of WCL students are very different from the interests of AU undergrads and we will likely select a different graduation speaker than the undergraduates. Under Ladner's new plan, we must all listen to one speaker who will address the graduation aspirations of AU undergraduate students, business school graduates and law school graduates alike. For us, an inspirational speech it will not be.
We must admit, President Ladner has played this one smart. By delaying the implementation of these proposed changes until next year, he can drop the bomb, let the students stomp and rant, and then over the summer when everyone is gone, work out some compromise which saves AU money. The question is, are we willing to usurp his authority and take our pomp and circumstance elsewhere?
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