An Interview With The Mayor Of Newark, New Jersey
At 39 years old, Cory Booker '97 is two years deep in his position as mayor of what is considered to be one of the toughest cities in the country. It's a position he fought hard (twice) to get to and that—despite sleepless nights and national media attention that sometimes seems to be waiting for disaster to come his way—he considers both an obligation and an honor.
Newark, New Jersey, has historically been plagued by a triumvirate of problems—violent crime (the city has a murder rate that is five times greater than that of New York City), poverty (nearly a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line), and poor education (in 2003, more than a third of Newarkers had less than a high school education).
As much of the outside world sees Newark as an example of all that can go wrong with urban America, Booker is motivated by what he sees as the possibility of making right.
Born to civil activist parents in Washington, D.C., in the late 1960s, Booker was raised in a northern New Jersey suburb. As an undergraduate at Stanford, he was a standout on the football team, headed a student-run crisis hotline, and did outreach work with youth from East Palo Alto. A Rhodes Scholarship took him to Queens College, Oxford, and a degree in modern history before arriving at Yale Law School in 1994. At the Law School, Booker was active in the Legal Services Organization, the Black Law Students Association, and the Big Brother program.
The world, quite simply, was open to Cory Booker. His choice? To return to New Jersey-to Newark-to fight the "savage inequalities" of urban life. What many might have predicted would be a short-lived, rosy-eyed tour in public service has turned out to be a life choice for Booker who, along his way to being elected mayor, has endured harassment from political rivals, assassination plots from local gangs, and life in one of Newark's worst housing projects.
Booker's leadership style is decidedly hands-on. Beginning with his first campaign, when he literally walked the streets, knocking on thousands of doors to introduce himself to the people of Newark, he has made outreach a key strategy. When a group of teenagers spray painted "Kill Booker" on the side of a school building, Booker decided to mentor them, becoming their "big brother" and taking them out for weekly meals and tutoring sessions. Mayor Booker holds monthly open-house meetings during which Newark residents are able to meet individually with him and voice their concerns about the City. And with violent crime one of his biggest concerns, he's made it a habit to spend time riding the streets with Newark police officers, sometimes spending whole nights getting a first-hand look at the violence behind the statistics that have plagued Newark.
Booker's work has not gone unnoticed. Beginning with the award-winning documentary Street Fight that chronicled his first mayoral run against longtime incumbent Sharpe James, the media has come to love Cory Booker. He's been the subject of stories by major media from The New York Times to The Oprah Winfrey Show. He has achieved almost super-hero status, being called "The Savior of Newark" by TIME Magazine, and named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report.
This spring, the Law Report had a chance to sit down with Mayor Booker and speak with him about his time at the Law School, his path to Newark, his hopes for the City, and what keeps him going.
YLR: When and why did you first become deeply involved in life in Newark?
CB: I had known Newark as a child growing up. It was a city I was very comfortable with through my parents and then I had some friends who were doing exciting things here, really interesting things in the city.
Then I went overseas to study and I came back to Yale...I think what happened during my first year of law school is that some of the experiences I had-eventually starting to run some clinics (there was a community economic development clinic I was involved in), some of the summer job opportunities that I had...definitely pushed me off the ledge and began to make me believe that I could be entrepreneurial in social change and start organizations that could fuel social change. So I got the courage and I thought to myself, ‘What is my wildest dream for myself?' One of my heroes was this guy named Geoffrey Canada ... I was so impressed with what he was doing in Harlem-it now is Harlem Children's Zone—that I said, ‘if I want to see social change, why don't I move into a neighborhood in the city I love, but in a tough neighborhood...and just start a nonprofit and see what we can do?'...
There were a number of fellowship programs out there that began to show me that I could jump and land on my feet, and then Yale had this tremendous program for forgiving loans [COAP] which gave me even more security. So I applied for a Skadden Fellowship with this vision. I got connected with another program which some Yale graduates were involved in—the Urban Justice Center—which was happy to allow me to franchise out, so to speak, their efforts into New Jersey... There is a beautiful statement about faith that says, ‘When you come to the end of all the light you know and you are about to step into the darkness, faith is knowing that one of two things will happen. Either you'll find solid ground underneath you or God will send you people who will teach you how to fly.' I said, ‘I'm going to move to Newark and I'm going to dive into a community and try to be a part of social change within a community.' Once I made that decision, more and more people seemed to appear...to guide me into making things work.
When you first ran for City Council, did you think that you'd eventually end up here as Mayor?
Well, the first revolution really was going from this great nonprofit leader—which was my vision for myself...my journal in 1996 was all spelled out about envisioning this organization, envisioning this nonprofit, what I was going to do in the City of Newark, and within one year I was running for City Council. So for me, it was a very big switch and it was a switch I had to make spiritually because, frankly, I didn't view politicians in all that great a light...
When I got into City Hall it was really the worst year of my professional career so far...when all the stuff started dawning on me about how deep the crisis was in terms of the urgency of the needs of our community—appreciating the incredible potential the city had, and with a great citizenry, but how the politics was just sort of a heavy yoke weighing down the City's potential. And there were so many things that were broken, perverted, corrupted within City Hall. Add to that a City Hall machine that was focused on stifling dissent or stifling reform, and I was sort of the tip of that spear and it was just grinding on me.
The first year I was getting migraine headaches all of the time, I was gaining weight, it was just an awful experience. And every time I thought I came up with some bright idea—like from budgeting, you know, ‘This is how you budget, this is what other cities are doing, activity-based costing' those kind of innovations-nobody was listening to me; I couldn't get enough votes to do anything. It was very problematic. I think it was around that time that I started to form this idea that to really create the leverage to make a difference it would have to be done from the mayor's office.
Around that time you were also inspired to go on a hunger strike?
That was a pivotal turning point for me, personally. It was literally a year after I had been in office. I was having a really bad time. I was even having a bad time justifying being a City Council person because I wasn't feeling like I was making the kind of change that I was elected to make and even people who believed in me thought that by electing me a City Council person I could get things done—I felt like they were losing faith or getting frustrated as well.
It was around that time that a very violent incident happened in a housing complex in the northern part of the ward that I represented and this phenomenal woman named Elaine Sewell was calling me, frustrated, angry, upset about the violence that was going on in front of her complex...and I was responding to her that I couldn't do anything...I remember coming home that day...and running into [Ms. Jones] who was the tenant president of the projects I lived in...and I remember we had this almost comical exchange where she wouldn't let me walk past her. She stopped me and said, ‘What's going on?' And I told her what was going on, very frustrated. And she said, ‘You know, I know what you should do.' And after some back and forth...I said, ‘Come on now, if you know what I should do, then tell me what to do.' And she said, ‘You should do something.' And I'm like, ‘That's it?' And she's like, ‘Yeah, that's it.'
...I'm a very spiritual person, and I love studying faiths and the many manifestations of the divine-Judaism, Hinduism, you name it-and I was reading the Bible at that point. And there is a passage in the Bible that says if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains... But it said sometimes you need to fast and pray. And I said, ‘OK. I don't know what to do, but I'm going to go out there and at least make a statement.' And, yeah, I called a hunger strike, and it lasted ten days. And really I just sat as a witness to the world. And to the world responding. And so many people came together. And so much change happened... The one irony of it all is that the Mayor came out finally and promised to put a police presence out there to curtail the drug dealing and to build a park on the concrete where we were. And I think that was the moment I decided I really had to run for Mayor, because he never followed through and built a park. It's something we're building right now. We're actually building a daycare center and a park finally in front of those projects, which will make a big difference.
Can you tell me a little more about how the Law School might have prepared you for this position?
Well, the great thing about Yale as opposed to other law schools is that it really affords you the freedom to explore your own path. What's your passion? What are your interests? And then there are people there that help guide you and cultivate that interest. And that you can express that interest in very concrete ways, in academic ways. It's just such a great environment because it doesn't put you in a cage. And I don't mean to say other law schools are limiting. I think the discipline of other law schools is great, but what Yale does is that it creates an environment where if you are a focused, disciplined person—whatever your passion is—the environment, human rights, corporate law, constitutional law, you name it, whatever it is-if you have a passion, and you are a self-starter you can create an experience for yourself that is not only empowering but is also liberating.
It really was the only law school for me as I look back on my experiences now because it just provided for me the raw materials with which to make a career. And really great people—both my peers and the professors—who were there who did nothing but encourage, assist, help, charge me up almost.
Why didn't you run for Senate in 2002?
...I have very much a clarity of thought with my career right now, which is that if it's not resonant with my goals of being a part of the empowerment of and the strengthening of Newark, of being part of a movement to try to manifest the American dream here in this community, then I don't really want anything to do with it...I remember blunt conversations with people offering me secretary of state positions, county executive positions, secretary of commerce, secretary of labor, a lot of things that were put on the table, trying to pull me away—I felt—from what my purpose was.
...If you took a snapshot of me last year, gosh, when we were facing a massive budget deficit, the murder rate was being incredibly stubborn. As difficult as those days were, I always woke up feeling that I was in the right place at the right time, doing the right things. And there's a solace in that...we're making tremendous success, even beyond the imagination of some stubbornly—you can call them pragmatic, realistic, or cynical-people who said that certain things couldn't be accomplished. And I think that this is the most important fight in America right now, I really do-to make America real for everybody in our urban areas... These savage inequalities that still exist in our nation have to be addressed if we are ever to become real, a country that lives up to its creed, to its spirit, to its ideals.
Given all of that, I know you're facing issues with education, with poverty, with crime, with a variety of things. What's the...
I've got issues! [laughs]
What's the biggest factor that the fate of Newark rests on?
I think you can't untangle them. And everyone wants to do that. If it was easily identifiable, or if there was just one thing, then we could all do it. I mean, the challenge is that all of these things are interrelated, interconnected, interdependent, and you have to take the challenges on in a more holistic way.
So we identified key issue areas. We set a mission statement that we were going to set the national standard in urban transformation, in public safety, in the creating of economic opportunity, and in children and family issues...I pulled my staff together in January and I said, ‘I'm about crime fighting. I know we have a lot of other things that we're doing, but this month I can't have a January 2008 be like a January 2007.' And I poured everything I had into the effort—staying out at night until four o'clock in the morning, riding the streets with police officers, going into police precincts, working one-on-one with our police director—and that began what's now occurring, which is probably one of the most exciting crime turnarounds in this country.
I've learned in my life that I have limited bandwidth, but that's the advantage of having a great team, and I have a tremendous team. You can start with my deputy mayor for economic development [Stefan Pryor], who is another Yale Law grad. I have great people in every area of City Hall who are helping us move forward...
How would you like Newark to remember you in the future?
...Being remembered is just not as important as getting it done and creating a legacy. I'm here because of so many thousands of people who sacrificed to get me here whose names I'll never know and the history books will never write about... I just want to be able to know-inside myself-that five years from now, ten years from now, we achieved the impossible, we expanded people's ideas... we banished cynicism, banished pessimism, and we changed people's conception of who they were, and what's possible within this country, within this city.
You said in an article that ran in The New Yorker recently that even though you're in this position where you're powerful, you feel more vulnerable than ever because your success is dependent on others' success.
...There's a Hebrew phrase gam zu l'tovah, which means in everything-no matter what-there's something good. So in this horrific trial [last] summer, where we had three college kids murdered, it's like I sort of saw the darkest parts of myself in a sense of just feeling, seeing the pain in my community, feeling the agony of these families, and having the national media descend and create this story that was reflecting everything that Newark wasn't-a violent place, a place where there's no safety and security. It was within that moment where I was starting to break inside, where I recognized the strength of so many people around me and I recognized that I'm not in this by myself... from August [2007] to August [2008] I think people are going to see this incredible story of a city that pulled together during that crisis and the following months.
Already you're seeing a record time without a murder in the City of Newark. We're now down about 70 percent on murders, about 40 to 50 percent on shootings in the city, so violent crime is from that point, really taking a dive down.
Is there anything else that you'd like to add?
I feel this profound sense of gratitude, frankly. I've had this life of remarkable blessings. I'm not saying that there haven't been trials or challenges. But I just feel this profound sense of gratitude. You look at an institution like Yale—all that goes into making it what it is—from the students to the staff, from people who through their generosity give to the institution—you know, I'm a beneficiary of those blessings. And I don't know all of their names—but that goes back to the idea that there's an interconnectedness. Somebody did something that afforded me this opportunity.
...I remember that powerful moment in my [Law School] graduation where my grandfather made the same corny jokes as he always made—you know, ‘The tassel's worth the hassle, son' and all this kind of funny stuff—but at the same time, he said to me, ‘Never forget that the degree you are holding is paid for by the blood, sweat, and tears of your ancestors, and that you have an obligation to go out in the world and stand up for who you are, stand up for all those who have stood for you.' It was just this powerful moment that drove home to me that holding that degree was the symbol of a collective sacrifice, collective struggle, and that my obligation as a recipient of that degree was to continue the struggle, continue the fight, to continue that profound purpose.
...The difference of the world that I stand in is the result of an unbelievable amount of love, frankly-wild, reckless, and strong, unyielding love-and there comes with that this tremendous sense of understanding that you must continue. To do anything less is to betray that legacy. Y
Text by Kaitlin Thomas
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The Evolving Digital Landscape of YLS
As technology has changed in the past thirty years, Yale Law School has changed along with it. Not only have the systems changed (so long, typewriters, card catalogs, and registration punch cards) but so has the nature of interaction at the Law School. As recently as 1999, for example, the Registrar's Office was easily identified by a snaking line of students waiting to sign up for courses. Now it's a place of relative calm—at least physically—as the course selection process has gone online and the queue of foot-shuffling students has become a virtual one. Enter any classroom and there will be nary a pen and pad in sight. Instead, the classrooms of the Sterling Law Buildings are packed with laptops and the click-click-click of keyboards. In the Lillian Goldman Library, fat volumes of legal cases still grace the shelves, but online resources have become the primary vehicle for research.
Traditionalists, take heart. There are still many things that remain the same, and though the transition to the virtual world may seem, on the surface, less personal, it has, in fact, simply shifted the nature of conversation to a different medium.
Information Technology Systems
YLS interoffice memos from 1980 tell of a time when "data processing/word processing consultants" were called into the Law School to help advise administrators about how they might productively use new technology. "Computerization," as it was called, was coming-and Yale Law School was getting ready. Far from the age of terabytes, the memos refer instead to magnetic tape and "Xerox keyboards."
It was in 1985 that then Dean Guido Calabresi '58 announced that the Law School had received approval for its first computer lab, in which twenty IBM PC ATs and twenty IBM Proprinters were made available for student use. Each computer had 640 K of internal memory and two disk drives, one 1.2 MB drive, and one 360 K drive. Four of the machines were "heavy lifters" offering 20 MB of hard disk space. (Compare that to 2008 when each student is allotted 250 MB of storage on the Law School's file server for the purpose of backing up files.)
When faculty members were first given computers in the mid 1980s, the biggest issues the (then-called) "Computer Services" staff faced were with floppy disks. Reminder memos posted in the computer lab relied on analogies between floppy disk drives and "stereo turntables" and were peppered with warnings not to take frustrations out on the hardware.
Spaces frequented at YLS a decade or two ago are now mostly quiet as changes in technology have altered the physical landscape of the computer labs and library. Students in the '80s lined up with floppy disks in hand to wait their turn to print. Today the Law School is completely wireless and email has replaced most paper. Students still print documents, though laser printers have replaced the behemoth dot-matrix machines in the computer lab.
Back in 1988 when she started working at the Law School, Susan Monsen (who is now Director of Information Technology Services) was the only staff member working in Computer Services. Slowly, the department's staff expanded as computers replaced typewriters and word processors and the Internet age began. As of 1998, the staff still numbered five, while a decade later there are now thirteen ITS staff members.
Today the YLS ITS team still works intensively with hardware issues and user support, but their responsibilities extend to application training, networking, audiovisual services, and web application development and support. Three full-time staff members now work solely on networking and web development, supporting student organizations and administrative departments with web applications (see sidebar on page 44). One full-time staff member works exclusively on laptop support, consulting with students and faculty (all of whom have laptops) to sort out pesky technical problems on the more than 600 laptops that are used daily at the Law School.
"The Law School is unusual in the level of support it offers to students and faculty members," says Kevin Bailey, Manager of Network Services and Student Computing. "IT support is now all of the time, all year long." Even exam period is a busy time for ITS staff as most exams are now taken on computers rather than in traditional "blue books."
Though laptops have never been a prerequisite of life as a YLS student, they are strongly recommended-and it seems that every student has one. Public and restricted-access computer clusters provide a total of 95 computers scattered throughout the building—the library hosts four separate areas for computers, including a computer lab, while the Legal Services Organization clinic offices are also home to YLS-maintained computers.
Enter almost any class in session and laptops are fully present; gone are the days of legal pads and binders for most Law School students. There are a few faculty members who prefer having computer-less classrooms, particularly in their small groups, but classrooms filled with computers are now the norm. All classrooms are wired with power outlets, and wireless access is available throughout all of the Sterling Law Building.
When the Law School was renovated in the late 1990s, classrooms were also wired for audiovisual equipment and the old faculty mailroom was converted to a central audiovisual room. Two full-time staff members now handle AV requests and Instructional Technology (which includes everything from PowerPoint support to providing microphones for and taping of large-scale events).
Most recently, the ITS staff has been focused on developing a new password-protected intranet portal site, called YLS: Inside, which brings together a host of internal documents, resource lists and links, calendars, and course information individualized for current students, faculty, and staff.
Of course all of the connectivity means less demand for paper, but more demand for energy. In an attempt to cut down on energy use and costs, the Law School plans to implement a number of procedures including automated power saving on all desktops, the purchase of Energy Star-rated servers, and a move to "server virtualization" by which servers are used more efficiently.
The Lillian Goldman Law Library
The Lillian Goldman Law Library represents the intersection of old and new technology at Yale Law School. While still a home to thousands of books, the library is also the go-to resource for high-tech research.
"Technology has completely changed how we work in reference," says Associate Librarian for Reference and Instructional Services John Nann. "Things that were unimaginable ten to fifteen years ago are now doable with the touch of a button."
The majority of library research has gone online; using resources such as LexisNexis and Westlaw is standard practice while paper-based research has become increasingly unusual. Texts can even be searched word by word, making the quality and efficiency of research better than in years past.
"Not only is most of the commonly used material now available online," says Nann, "but we now have access to very arcane pieces of information and the ability to connect with people whose names you wouldn't have even been able to find ten or fifteen years ago. You want to research water rights law in Botswana? Not a problem—you can even find the name of an expert in that field using an online search."
Paper-based card catalogs have long been discarded. "High technology in those days was an electric eraser. Now you can change 25,000 to 30,000 records in half an hour," says Associate Librarian for Technical Services Mary Jane Kelsey.
Digital cataloging began in the 1970s, with MORRIS (the University's first local online database of titles) launching in 1985. This past year, the library staff has been working to roll out "MORRIS Encore," which Kelsey calls "the new generation of catalog." Designed to be more in-tune with the e-commerce world, MORRIS Encore displays facets and subject clouds, as well as thumbnails of book covers in the Yale Law collection (much like the popular online bookseller Amazon.com). Not just an online catalog, both "Classic" MORRIS and MORRIS Encore serve as portals for research, offering links to library databases and online journals as well as records for the YLS collection. MORRIS also allows users to set up periodic searches and alerts that notify users when there are specific changes to the library collection. Students have access to thousands of databases through the library and University, with Lexis, Westlaw, and the Supreme Court decision database Thomas being just a few of the more frequented sites.
Though much library research has gone online, the switch to a digital format has not made the library an afterthought. Library patronage is up, in fact. It's just that the library staff use different resources to help faculty and students find the information they need.
"What would have taken me five hours to research before can now take me five minutes," Nann says. "But at the same time, the types of questions we get now are much more intricate and obscure. I can still often spend five hours on a question. It's just that questions that were unimaginable, unsolvable before are doable now."
Besides helping students and faculty to acquire resources and perform research, the library also trains the YLS community about how to use available technology.
"At the level of research that our students and faculty are doing, they really need to be able to utilize the tools the best they can," Nann explains.
As books become digitized, the library's collection becomes increasingly available to scholars throughout the world. Books, though, will always have a home at the Law School's library where students, faculty, and researchers can work with primary documents and search the pages of books handled by generations of legal scholars.
"We still love the artifact," Kelsey says. "That's our mission—[books] will always have a home here."
The Registrar's Office
Just as the lines of students waiting to print from their floppy disks have disappeared, so, too, have the lines once so well known to the Registrar's Office. Originally designed with an open rectangular layout to accommodate constant student traffic and long lines at course selection time, the office now rarely has a line—at least not a visible one—as much of the student traffic has gone online.
"There are still students who come to the office in person with questions," Registrar Judith Calvert explains, "but their questions tend to be more substantive, and the ‘housekeeping' details are sorted through online applications."
The Registrar's Office joined the University's Student Information Systems (SIS) soon after the online system was launched in 1998, giving students access to grades, and allowing them to bid for a limited number of courses online. Exams also gradually moved online, beginning with longer, self-scheduled exams.
Initially prompted by the motivation to give students greater flexibility in taking exams, the online system also facilitated the collection of exams from students and redistribution to faculty members by the Registrar's Office. Rather than having to keep track of hundreds of blue books, the online system allows the Registrar to work with digital files that can be more easily tracked, stored, and shared with faculty.
Following the first iteration of online exam taking, the Law School worked with a third-party software vendor to build an exam system specifically created to mesh with YLS policies and procedures. Over the past four years, the Registrar's Office has expanded the system. Today approximately seventy percent of exams are self-scheduled, and the majority of those are available online. Online exam taking is not a requirement however-old-fashioned blue books are still available to those who want to put pen to paper, and students are encouraged to use whatever system suits their comfort level.
"All we've done is add another shape of pencil to the pencil box," Calvert says.
Today virtually all student records are available online via SIS. Course selection and bidding are exclusively online. Grade reports are online. Bills are paid online (paper bills no longer even exist). All contact information is updated online. Unofficial transcripts are available online. And all course evaluations are completed online.
What once took weeks to sort out-namely class rosters and student schedules-is now updated daily. The once time-consuming task of reviewing each student's transcript by hand and tallying standings toward degree requirements is also now automated. Instead of the hand-tallying, degree progress reports are automatically generated and emailed to all third-year students, allowing them to track their progress toward their Law School diploma.
Some things are still very much the same as they've always been, though-official transcripts are still paper based and require an official signature and seal of the Registrar, and the Bar certification process has not yet gone online.
"It's a constantly evolving system," says Calvert, adding that the primary motivation behind all of the office's online systems is increased efficiency. The ability to handle routine requests online has made the office's interactions with students more substantive, she says.
In the summer of 2007, for example, Deputy Registrar Rebekah Melville worked with the Graduate Students Program to develop an online bidding system available specifically for LL.M. students. One hundred percent of the incoming LL.M. candidates used the online system and reported that the ability to select courses online helped in their transition to YLS. Gone was the added anxiety of trying to select courses while adapting to a new environment—a foreign environment for many of the international students in the LL.M. class. And rather than devoting their energy to long lines of frazzled students trying to fill out paperwork, the Registrar's Office was able to focus on students' individual questions.
"The goal is not to say we're a distance learning school," Calvert assures, "but to facilitate the process so that students can concentrate on what they're here to do-to study law." Y
Text by Kaitlin Thomas
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"When these 232 individuals have completed their academic requirements, they will be, quite simply, the finest new law graduates on the planet this year."
Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh's pride in the Class of 2008 was evident in his remarks to graduates during Commencement ceremonies on May 26, Memorial Day. He recounted some of their major accomplishments and reminded them "that the role of lawyers is to be leaders; that accomplishment alone, without humility, is tragic; and that excellence alone, without humanity, is worthless." In keeping with the day, he paid tribute to deceased U.S. military veterans who "paid what Abraham Lincoln called that ‘last full measure of devotion.'"
Deputy Dean Jonathan Macey '82, Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance, and Securities Law, spoke of "three of the most critical things every lawyer should have: gratitude, courage, and an understanding of the world we live in today."
The announcement of degree candidates followed-203 Juris Doctor (J.D.) degrees, 25 Master of Laws (LL.M.), 3 Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D.), and 1 Master of Studies in Law (M.S.L.).
Kenji Yoshino '96, Guido Calabresi Professor of Law, delivered the commencement address. Professor Yoshino, who is leaving Yale Law School, urged students to move toward the Promised Land of a society characterized by dignity, equality, and liberty. He ended his remarks on an emotional note, saying it was impossible to sum up what his years at Yale Law have meant to him.
"Today, my heart is full of gratitude," he said. "I thank my teachers who sit behind me for letting me learn from them, and my students who sit before me for letting me teach you. Less intuitively, but perhaps more importantly, I thank my teachers behind me for letting me teach them, and my students before me for letting me learn from you."
Also addressing the graduates was Carla Hills '58, chair and chief executive officer of Hills & Company, International, and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the Ford Administration. Hills, who received an honorary degree earlier in the day from Yale University, had this piece of advice: "Select those opportunities that capture both your heart and mind. Love what you do and you will do it better." Y
To read the Commencement remarks and see additional photographs and a video of the ceremonies, visit www.law.yale.edu/news/7010.htm.
Photographs of Commencement 2008 by William K. Sacco, Yale University Media Services; Text by Kathy Colello
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