Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn attended Pepperdine University’s weekly convocation ceremony on March 6, helping to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Zohra Daoud, Miss Afghanistan 1972, also attended the convocation. Daoud has been a voice for the women in Afghanistan ever since the Taliban took over in 1996.
During his address to Pepperdine students, Hahn shared his experiences when he attended Pepperdine in Los Angeles and Orange County before the university came to Malibu in the 1970s.
Hahn graduated from Pepperdine’s Seaver College in 1972 and in 1975 he graduated from the university’s School of Law. He was honored as the School of Law’s Distinguished Alumnus in 1994.
Hahn is the son of longtime Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.
The mayor recounted the friendships he acquired when attending the college, and the value friendship has.
“Friendship is like sticking each other’s fingers in each other’s clay,” he said. “We mold one another.”
He also learned about public service at the school.
Soon after he graduated from law school, Hahn went to work for a legal firm that helped poor women defend themselves against abuse. That led him into politics, he explained.
As he wanted to make a difference in the lives of others, Hahn said it is important to take an active role in the community.
“I want you to be people of action,” he encouraged the students.
Hahn also congratulated Pepperdine’s basketball teams. The women’s team won their first West Coast Conference title and the men’s team beat out all the Los Angeles collegiate teams.
A detailed story about Daoud’s undertakings will be featured in The Malibu Times in the near future.