--- description: "Graduates, faculty, family, friends—our topic today is 'Star Wars,'" title: The 'Star Wars' References in This Graduation Speech Are Perfect image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta86b86ec5c8bf884/69877f9506f2c1fa61333ff0/star-wars.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The _Star Wars_ References in This Graduation Speech Are Perfect by [Dan Hirschhorn](/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 24, 2015 3:04 PM CUT  Lucasfilm by [Dan Hirschhorn](/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 24, 2015 3:04 PM CUT When the students of the University of Pennsylvania law school sat down to hear their commencement speech from Cass Sunstein, they probably didn’t think they were in for a dissertation on _Star Wars_. “Graduates, faculty, family, friends—our topic today is _Star Wars_,” the legal scholar and former Obama Administration regulatory official opened his May 17 speech. “It’s not the most usual topic I know, but it’s not completely random. The Class of 2015 has the astounding good fortune of graduating in the very year of _Star Wars_‘ rebirth.” And from there he was off, drawing thematic lessons from the movies that he said hold lessons for both graduates and their families. But his closing line was the best: “The Force is strong with you all. May your ships make the kessel run in much less than 12 parsecs. Congratulations to the Jedi Knights of 2015!” Watch the full speech below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3895262/star-wars-graduation-speech-cass-sunstein-penn-law/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3895262/star-wars-graduation-speech-cass-sunstein-penn-law/"},"headline":"The Star Wars References in This Graduation Speech Are Perfect","datePublished":"2015-05-24T15:04:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:20:16.502Z","description":"\"The Force is strong with you all\"","url":"https://time.com/3895262/star-wars-graduation-speech-cass-sunstein-penn-law/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta86b86ec5c8bf884/69877f9506f2c1fa61333ff0/star-wars.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Hirschhorn","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta86b86ec5c8bf884/69877f9506f2c1fa61333ff0/star-wars.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"obi wan kenobi","caption":"obi wan kenobi","creditText":"Lucasfilm","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3895262/star-wars-graduation-speech-cass-sunstein-penn-law/","name":"The Star Wars References in This Graduation Speech Are Perfect"}}]}] ```