A sense of responsibility for each other
A Message From Marianne Lord, Associate Dean for Institutional Advancement
At BC Law students are everyday visitors to our alumni and development offices. They stop by to chat about alumni involvement in programs they are planning. They sometimes request alumni contacts in the cities where they are from and hope to return to pursue their careers. They often want to invite alumni to events such as the annual Oral Advocacy Banquet or to ask alumni to help coach or judge the competitions.
The Law Students Association Leadership meets with our Asst. Dean for Alumni Relations, Christine Kelly, regularly to discuss public interest alumni mentoring in the Chapters.
Students who work so hard on the Public Interest Law Foundation Auction to raise money for summer stipends for students in non-paying, summer public interest jobs want to know how to involve more alumni in the auction. But, most often they want to talk about the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) for classmates who will be going into low paying, but very important, public interest careers. One day, there were 10 such students from the Class of 2008 in my office asking about the realities of LRAP funding. They intended to earmark their class gift for Loan Repayment Assistance and wanted to make the best case possible to their classmates. I asked those students who among them would be going into such a career. The answer was just three of the ten. The remaining seven had jobs at mid and large sized law firms, and one was headed to Wall Street. Still curious, I called our Career Services office to ask what percentage of each class, on average, enters into a public service career. The response was about 10 percent. The Class of 2008 went on to break all fundraising records. They raised over $150,000 in pledges with 68 percent of the class making a gift or pledge to the Law School Fund to support LRAP. LRAP funding from the Law School Fund has grown over the last several years from about $80,000 to over $260,000 last year due to growth in annual giving by alumni and a commitment by Dean Garvey to assist alumni in public interest careers.
This is just one example of the stunning sense of responsibility and caring our students have for one another. As amazing, is that their affection is not worn down by years after Commencement. Record numbers of alumni returned to campus this November to celebrate the 2008 BC Law Alumni Reunion. The joy of seeing one another, old faculty, and current students was palpable. On Saturday morning, when students and faculty met alumni at the Ritz in Boston to talk about the School and the new Alumni Association, one alumnus remarked that, “It would seem there really is only one asset in all of our portfolios that has actually increased in value—our BC Law degree.” This reunion was also a record breaker in terms of class gifts.
Not unlike a family that gathers to celebrate both in hard times and in good times, confident in the ties that bind, BC Law alumni continue to delight in their connection to and responsibility for one another and their Law School.
Sincerely,
Marianne Lord
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