By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder delivered the keynote speech at Columbia University Law School’s graduation ceremony on Friday afternoon, but made no mention of Times Square's recent brush with terrorism or the Miranda law.
Instead, Holder encouraged graduates to work to improve the country’s legal system as young lawyers.
"Young people, it seems to me, are uniquely qualified to re-imagine — and in doing so, to reinvigorate — the law and the world," Holder, who graduated from Columbia Law School in 1976, told the students.
"Many of the great social advancements in our nation's history were, in no small part, the result of ideas that law school graduates enivsioned and, over time, implemented."
The Attorney General also made a point to reassure the graduates that, despite the tough economic times, “you will all be okay.”
“You are entering an uncertain world — one burdened by economic recession but showing signs of recovery. You are taking leave of this campus in an age of unprecedented challenge, an era of new threats, and a time of war,” Holder said.
“Yet, you must resist the temptation to feel as though you have been dealt a bad hand.”
Students had mixed reactions to Holder’s speech.
“While it may have kind of been his job as the Attorney General to tell us this, I liked how he talked about how young lawyers have changed the course of law in the past and how he gave us a charge to go out and do the same thing,” said graduate Seth Niedermayer.
“I also really liked that he’s an alum. It made it more personal,” Niedermayer added.
But graduate Aliza Goren suggested that the Attorney General should practice a few times in the mirror next time.
“He basically just read directly from the teleprompter, like he’d never seed the speech before,” Goren said. “He didn’t even know which moments were meant to be funny until after saying them.”
