The graduates sat two-per-row in a spacious, dark auditorium on Saturday. They bumped elbows with the dean when their name was called, and smiled in front of a limited group of friends and family who cheered behind masks.
Instead of letting the COVID-19 pandemic squander graduation entirely, the South Texas College of Law Houston decided to split the traditionally large gathering into 13 separate ones with COVID-19 precautions.
“I will not mention a word that starts with C and rhymes with ‘novid’ because today is not about challenges, today is not about obstacles,” said President and Dean Michael Barry in a speech he would give 13 times from behind a plexiglass barrier. “Today is about success, about accomplishment, about celebration.”
The two-day series of ceremonies kicked off at 9 a.m. Saturday. Ninety minutes later — after the auditorium was cleaned — more families filed in, new graduates took their seats, the lights dimmed, and it began again.
Each ceremony honored 20 students with up to eight guests each. In total, nearly 300 students from the classes of fall 2019, spring 2020 and summer 2020 were recognized.
The law school, founded in 1923, is the oldest in Houston and the third-largest in Texas. The school is located on San Jacinto Street in downtown.
The school hosted an online graduation ceremony in May, but faculty, staff and students agreed it wasn’t sufficient for the tight-knit school community. Students voted overwhelmingly in favor of a delayed in-person event with COVID-19 precautions.
“This is such a momentous moment,” Barry said. “There’s so many first generation students that have never had the opportunity, and COVID denied us the ability to do that in May. And it was really important to us to try to figure out a way to make this happen.”
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