Three Maurer School of Law graduate students’ hands were moving across the cream-colored thank-you notes.
The students, sitting in the student lounge of the law school, had just returned from Washington, D.C., with 53 others who attended the Women’s March on Washington.
The thank-you notes, which will be signed by all law students on the trip, were addressed to the people who donated money to help pay for their transportation.
“We felt stronger knowing we had your support back in Bloomington,” third-year law student Francesca Hoffman said. “Not just financially, but with food donations and overall emotional support.”
The trip included 26 law students. The other 30 people included undergraduate and graduate students, professors from other departments, family of law students and one other professor.
Hoffman sat with fellow third-year law student Emily Kile and second-year law student Ash Kulak.
Scattered across the table were thank-you notes with different colored writing. Some were written with curly light letters and some with rigid ones. On the table, there were also coffee cups and a law book titled “Federal Courts: Cases and Materials on Judicial Federalism and the Lawyering Process.”
The march in D.C. had a big influence on all three students, they said.
“It was truly an inspiring, life-changing experience,” Hoffman said. “Especially seeing so many diverse groups of people and causes coming together in solidarity.”
In total the trip cost $7,940, including the bus ride, parking pass and the tip for the drivers. About $1,400 was donated. Hoffman organized the bus and coordinated the donations.
Aside from the donators the law school students wrote thank-you notes to the National Guard and the Metropolitan Police Department.
“When we were walking from the bus to the march, there were National Guard members lined up,” Kile said. “They all smiled and waved and said ‘hi.’ It was a really nice start to the day.”
Kulak had filled one letter completely on both sides with small handwriting. It was for a professor who had donated her ticket for a student to use. Kulak happened to take her spot on the trip.
They students said they were impressed by the size of the movement. Though, they didn’t realize it until after they were done marching.
“It was so much bigger than I imagined,” Kile said, “Especially when we finished and saw all the news coverage from marches in other cities and around the world.”
