Last Friday, the premier event of the Fall semester arrived with style at the Forum Hotel. The 2025 PILA Silent Auction provided students with some necessary relief from the pre-Thanksgiving stress by breaking up Never-Ending-November with a fleeting moment where they could tear up the dance floor just like they did in high school. Through both the annual Silent and Live Auctions (the latter of which was held on Tuesday), members of the Law School community came out to support the Public Interest Law Association and all of their peers pursuing work in the public sector. Each year, ticket, drink, and auction proceeds go toward PILA’s Public Service Summer Grants, which support students working in low or unpaid positions between school years. [1]
Friday’s bidding was conducted in the classic silent auction style—bidders peruse the sheets spread out along the long tables in the front area of the event. All one need do to place a bid is write a name and a dollar amount on the page. The highest bid on the page by the event’s conclusion wins. With such a passive, amiable structure to the event, one would think that it would lend itself to serenity, decorum, grace, and perhaps a healthy dose of boredom. One would be wrong.
Evoking the image of a reverse Black Tuesday, bidders swarmed the tables seeking—nay, begging—to give just a little more money away for the slightest chance to take home one of the items. For much of the event, it seemed that there were more guests jammed into the auction area than there were on the dance floor, at the food table, and at the bar combined…