Northwestern’s Dental School’s last 53 students graduated Saturday, with the usual celebrations toned down by the weight of a school’s doors closing behind them.
Graduating student Mojdeh Abbasian said her excitement in finishing school was tempered by the thought of not having a school to return to later in life.
“You want to go back 10 years after graduation and see the place and faculty and staff,” she said. “We have no school to go back to.”
The Dental School shut down Saturday after 110 years. In December 1997, University President Henry Bienen approved a recommendation from NU’s Board of Trustees decided to stop accepting applicants and close the school down. Administrators cited financial woes and dental administration turnover as reasons.
Dental School Dean Lee Jameson said he and other administrators knew this class was “special” even before Bienen’s announcement. But when the students learned they would be the Dental School’s last graduates, it brought them closer together.
“We noticed even before the announcement that this was a cohesive class,” Jameson said. “The announcement brought that cohesiveness to a new level.”
Jameson said the original recommendation called for the school to close within a year, prompting about a quarter of the class to leave before completing the program. He said students and faculty who stayed were galvanized them. The class ranked sixth in the nation in standardized dental school tests.
“We were all milling together to get one thing done, and that was to get that class to reach their greatest potential, and we did that,” he said. “We graduated all the students on time, which traditionally is not something that always happens.”
The school’s closing was not the only thing upsetting students and faculty. Students used to offer a Saturday morning clinic for low-income Chicago families, charging $20 for a year of oral care. The clinic was shut down in October.
“The saddest part is knowing that all the patients will have nowhere to go,” Abbasian said. “We had thousands of patients, and all we’re telling them is that the Saturday morning clinic is closed.”
Jameson said the dental school unsuccessfully tried to find alternative care for the patients.
“We tried to get somebody to take over the clinic, but we couldn’t find anybody to handle that volume or provide that service,” Jameson said.
Abbasian said she hopes the school’s closing isn’t indicative of larger trends in dentistry.
“(Dentistry) is a profession that needs more attention,” she said. “I get a feeling that it’s kind of being left aside from medicine, which is very, very sad.”
