When
you
pay
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars
to
go
to
law
school,
you
should
expect
to
be
confronted
with
questions
throughout
the
process.
There
are
the
obvious
“what
is
subject
matter
jurisdiction
again?”-esque
questions,
but
those
aren’t
the
ones
that
keep
you
up
at
night.
The
big
questions
tend
to
be
more
existential:
What’s
the
point
of
all
this?
Am
I
just
wasting
my
time?
Who
even
cares
if
I
finish
this
degree
or
not?
And
it
isn’t
just
you
wondering
those
things.
That
one
guy
who
bombed
his
cold
call
in
Crim
Law,
the
nerds
chasing
extracurricular
clout
on
trial
team,
they
want
to
have
a
moment
that
makes
it
plainly
obvious
that
their
hard
work
mattered
and
will
matter
to
others.
Graduation
ceremonies
can
offer
that
much-needed
confirmation.
You
probably
remember
bits
of
yours:
the
dean
or
your
favorite
professor
calling
your
name
on
stage
and
some
quirky
celebrity
they
managed
to
opine
about
how
bright
your
future
is.
But
the
part
that
mattered
the
most
for
many
were
the
people
in
the
audience.
Friends,
family,
the
support
system
that
got
you
to
this
part
of
the
rest
of
your
life.
And
they
travel
far
to
be
there.
My
mom
traveled
~800
miles
to
show
up
to
my
graduation
at
WashU,
but
that’s
a
short
walk
compared
to
the
international
flights
my
cohort
members’
families
flew
to
celebrate
all
of
their
hard
work.
Schools
tend
to
honor
the
importance
of
the
celebration.
This
year’s
class
of
graduating
Georgetown
students
were
looking
forward
to
their
Graduation
Gala
and
small
accessible
ceremonies
that
grouped
graduates
with
their
1L
sections.
But
this
year,
the
school
is
planning
major
cuts
to
the
program
and
the
students
are
understandably
pissed
off.
Georgetown
Voice
has
the
story:
In
the
weeks
leading
up
to
commencement,
what
should
feel
like
the
proud
finish
line
for
Georgetown
Law’s
Class
of
2026
has
felt
more
like
a
fight.The
Law
Center
sent
out
an
announcing
changes
to
its
May
graduation
ceremony
on
Dec.
23,
2025,
which
involved
the
cancellation
of
small
cohort
ceremonies
on
the
Capitol
Campus.
The
beloved
Graduation
Gala
was
also
cancelled,
though
most
students
were
unaware
that
this
decision
occurred.
This
change
disrupted
months
of
planning
and,
for
many
students,
was
a
disappointment
after
years
of
anticipation.
In
response,
students
are
planning
to
boycott
the
ceremony
and
skip
it
all
together.
Met
with
that
reality,
the
dean
told
them
that
skipping
graduation
“would
be
a
shame
for
them,’
not
for
the
school,
for
them[.]”’
Way
to
cut
off
a
generation
of
potential
future
donors,
dean!
The
school
intends
to
have
the
graduation
ceremony
at
the
historic
Hilltop
Campus.
While
that
is
part
of
the
school’s
pre-COVID
tradition,
that
part
of
campus
is
less
accessible
than
other
parts
of
campus
that
could
host
the
ceremony
like
the
Eleanor
Holmes
Norton
Green
on
the
Capitol
Campus.
Ceremonies
were
held
there
as
part
of
a
temporary
change,
but
sometimes
the
new
thing
is
better
than
the
old
one.
And
considering
that
the
student
petition
against
the
announced
changes
has
about
800
student,
faculty,
and
familial
signatures,
the
university
could
have
done
a
better
job
of
incorporating
feedback.
Instead,
the
school
plans
to
go
with
an
outdoor,
5+
hour
ceremony
with
limited
shaded
seating
that
will
lump
everyone
together,
and
an
AI
program
that
will
read
out
the
graduates’
names.
And
the
Gala?
It
was
replaced
by
a
happy
hour
in
one
of
the
buildings
that
hosts
classes.
Students
should
be
able
to
expect
more
from
one
of
the
most
expensive
law
schools
in
the
nation.
You
can
read
a
student
voice
their
frustrations
in
their
own
words
on
the
next
page.
Georgetown
Law’s
Class
Of
2026
Pushes
Back
Against
Commencement
Changes
[Georgetown
Voice]
Earlier:
Georgetown
LLMs
Bent
Out
Of
Shape
Over
Graduation
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boat
builder
who
is
learning
to
swim
and
is
interested
in
rhetoric,
Spinozists
and
humor.
Getting
back
in
to
cycling
wouldn’t
hurt
either.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at
[email protected]
and
by
Tweet/Bluesky
at @WritesForRent.