April 18, 2008
American Constitutional Society Names Award After Outgoing Faculty Adviser Garrett Epps
On April 17th, 2008, Professor Garrett Epps — constitutional scholar, American Constitutional Society (“ACS”) faculty adviser, and friend — entered the Knight Law Center’s Commons to cheers and applause. Professor Epps will soon move to the University of Baltimore School of Law, and ever since he announced his plans, the ACS Executive Board secretly planned a proper send-off.
At the ceremony, outgoing ACS President Vanessa Nordyke delivered a keynote address, in which she described to the crowd Professor Epps’s accolades and the impact that his teaching and mentoring had on her. Afterwards, several law professors, administrators, and students took turns at the podium to reminisce about and poke fun at Professor Epps.
The ceremony concluded with a moving speech by Professor Epps, who proclaimed that he treasured his experiences at the University of Oregon, valued his colleagues, and appreciated how the creative spirit of the student body brought about several noteworthy events to law school. As he so often does, Professor Epps concluded with a poetry reading:
“O Blossoms of Flowers,
truly love moves the world,
for the worlds are love,
and when the pipes of love play,
the dead themselves lift up their hands to dance.”
J.C. Mardrus – “The Queen of Sheba”
