Dean Gillian Lester Urges Class of 2015 to Call Upon Their Courage and Moral Clarity
Society Needs Graduates to Pursue Justice in a Nuanced World, She Says
New York, May 21, 2015—Graduates of Columbia Law School’s Class of 2015 possess the clarity to grasp the moral landscape before them and the courage to do what is right even when it’s difficult, said Gillian Lester, Dean and the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law, who today presided over her first graduation ceremony since taking the helm of the Law School in January.
Gillian Lester, Dean and the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Law, presides over her first graduation |
Lester, who was appointed the Law School’s 15th dean last year, told graduates to have faith in their own ability to make the right call.
Nine members of the Class of 1965 walk in the day’s procession. |
Dean Lester leads the processional onto the South Lawn while, during the ceremony,
students and parents take the opportunity to capture the moment. |
Keynote speaker Charles Fried ’60, former solicitor general of
the United States, told the Class of 2015 they are now part of a long line of Columbia Law School graduates who have used the rule of law to make the world a better place. |
Fried thanked his former students for including him in their graduation and told them they are part of a long line of distinguished Columbia Law School alumni and faculty who have used the rule of law—and reason—to improve the world, including: Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (1891), Harlan Fiske Stone (1898), Stanley H. Fuld ’26, Walter Gellhorn ’31, Herbert Wechsler ’31, Charles D. Breitel ’32, and Constance Baker Motley ’46, among many others.
Madiba K. Dennie ’15 presents the Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence
in Teaching to Professor Jessica Bulman-Pozen. |
- won asylum for immigrant families facing persecution;
- fought to limit greenhouse gas emissions;
- addressed the United Nations on targeted killing;
- challenged the regulation of domestic and global financial markets;
- ran the New York City marathon;
- served as senior legal officers in the U.S. military;
- freed a man who was wrongfully incarcerated for more than 18 years; and
- worked in New York, D.C., Los Angeles, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Rome, Myanmar, Dubai, Lima, Harare, Sao Paulo, and Sydney, among other accomplishments.
(left to right) Student Senate President Joshua M. Lingerfelt ’15, J.D. Class Speaker Mikael Gatsby Miller ’15, and LL.M. Class Speaker Rony Oommen John ’15 LL.M. reflect on the experiences the graduates have shared on campus and off. |
The Class of 2015 looks toward a bright future. |