2,800 Graduate at Yale Amid Beefed-Up Security

Yale University handed out 2,800 degrees Monday in a rain-soaked ceremony marked by extra security after a bomb exploded last week at its law school.

Uniformed officers from the state, Yale and New Haven police patrolled the campus, and bags were searched. No incidents were reported at the university’s main graduation ceremony, which was cut short because of heavy rain, or at the law school ceremony afterward.

Law School Dean Anthony Kronman told graduates he was grateful that no one was hurt in the bomb blast Wednesday. The bomb damaged rooms but did not injure anyone. No arrests have been made.

“There is nothing that has happened to our building that can’t be fixed, but if one person had been hurt or killed in the explosion, the loss would be beyond our power to repair,” Kronman said.

Law graduate Mary Fan of Phoenix said she wasn’t worried about her safety but was concerned for her elderly grandparents in the audience.

“When I got here and saw all the security, I wasn’t worried anymore,” Fan said.

At the main graduation ceremony, the university awarded honorary degrees to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, entertainer Bill Cosby and nine other leaders in business, science, the arts and other fields.

Yale President Richard Levin honored Ginsburg as a pioneer for women in the law and for her work to assure women equal protection under the law.

“You have made your mark on our times by helping to remedy the discrimination you faced,” Levin said. “As a justice of the United States Supreme Court, you are an untiring advocate for equality and a staunch defender of the 1st Amendment.”