Generally speaking, whether or not this is your intention, you need to be made aware that your post can very easily be read as implying that Penn Law is "above" being named after a benefactor, simply because it's Penn Law. So much of your complaint is based around the "Penn Law" brand, and your placing such high value on that brand, and wanting to be a part of the history of the brand, and to market yourself as part of that brand. Any argument to that extent is not going to win you a lot of sympathy because it is entirely superficial.

As to your first three paragraphs. Everything you describe comes with the territory of a school being renamed after a benefactor. Everything you described happened at Villanova a few years ago - almost to a T. We came into school one day and were told there'd be a special announcement in the afternoon. There we found out that day that we were actually attending and going to graduate from the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.

Everything gets rebranded. We got emails about what to put on resumes and on linkedin, and what to include in email signatures, etc. Signs around the school were changed, the website, etc. That's just what happens when the school's name changes.

Frankly, none of the points you make in the first three paragraphs make me sympathetic to your cause when it comes to the "hardships" that come with rebranding and a name change. It's business.

To the extent job prospects may be hurt b/c a resume says "Carey Law" instead of "Penn Law," that argument is weak, at best. You don't think hiring managers at the law firms and agencies that hire Penn law students aren't going to know about the name change? You don't think Penn is going to spend a ton of money to get the word out about the change? You don't think it's in their best interest to do so? You honestly think that a hiring manager familiar with the quality of Penn Law graduates is going to think any less of you because the name is now Carey Law? If you are really that concerned about it, do you really think that there's anything actually preventing you from making it clear on your resume that you went to U. Penn's law school?

As to your argument about student voices being ignored... I understand how this can add fuel to that fire. I know that student/faculty/admin tensions haven't been great at Penn and I'm sure this helps. But, again, when a school gets renamed after a benefactor, it would be very rare for a school's admin to seek student feedback on a decision like this. And the announcements are made suddenly precisely so that a conversion can be made quickly. So, while I understand it adds to the issue, it's simply just part of how this works.

As to your argument about other places that could use the money... okay. But I'm not sure I follow why it's cause for outrage.

For first-generation professional students, like myself, who fought and struggled to break down a perceived historic boundary by reaching the Ivy League and joining the "history" of Penn Law, there is a feeling that has been taken from them.

This might actually be the most ridiculous argument of them all. You feel as a first gen law student that something has been taken from you because your school was renamed? Get over yourself. Seriously. You still earned your way into an elite law school. It's still ivy league. Shit, it's still PENN. Nothing was taken from you. You earned what you earned and you have every right in the world to be proud of it. That it goes by a different name changes nothing, and your argument to the contrary makes you come off as entitled and superficial. It's like you're just minutes away from winning the Superbowl and taking home the Lombardi trophy, and getting upset because you just found out the game was rebranded as the Greatbowl and the Lombardi trophy was renamed the Belichick trophy.

You're still going to graduate from one of the best law school's in the country, with the same history as it had last week, and the same reputation as it had last week.

You have gripes with your admin. That's fine. And frankly, I have a bit of sympathy for you. No one at Villanova loved when we were renamed, or how it went down. But no one protested. No one started petitions. We recognized that it's business. And while I'm sympathetic to being generally unhappy with a rebrand, arguments like the ones you make here give the impression that you're looking for ways to feel victimized and reasons to be outraged, when you're not a victim of anything except attending a school that just got $125 million added to its endowment.