Use your diplomas as microphones to speak up in the face of "appalling silences,” Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) told the 280 graduating members of Santa Clara University School of Law.
The law school’s 98th commencement took place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the University’s Mission Gardens, on a sunny day attended by a jubilant and multi-ethnic crowd of about 3,500 family, friends and supporters of the Class of 2009.
Santa Clara Law’s Class of 2009 is nearly evenly split between male and female graduates, with 49 percent women and 51 percent men. One of the top-ranked schools for diversity, 23 percent of SCU Law’s graduates are Asian or Pacific Islander; 6 percent each Hispanic and African American; 5 percent Mid Eastern; and 43 percent Caucasian. Twenty one already have advanced degrees.
Stevenson has won national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color in the criminal justice system, and for working to overturn unjust death penalties, especially in the South where the legacy of racism persists.
Read the full press release on the Santa Clara University website.
