Commencement is designed to honor student achievement, not fallen presidents, the dean of Duke University's law school said after the school declined to honor Richard Nixon with a moment of silence.
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Instead, each program distributed at Sunday's graduation will include a letter Dean Pamela Gann wrote after Nixon died last month, describing his accomplishments as student and as president. Nixon graduated third in his class in 1937."The Law School does not recognize the deaths of faculty, alumni, or friends of the Law School at its graduation," Gann said Thursday. "An exception was made in this case because of the students' request and because President Nixon's death had occurred so close in time to the graduation weekend."