Deaning for Whom? Means and Ends in Legal Education

• Publication year: 2008
• Citation: Vol. 31 No. 04

UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND LAW REVIEWVolume 31, No. 4SUMMER 2008

ARTICLES

Deaning for Whom? Means and Ends in Legal Education

Kristin Booth Glen(fn*)

I was an accidental dean. Law school deanship, or any kind of administration, was something that had never occurred to me. But after almost thirty happy and rewarding years as a constitutional litigator, state trial and appellate judge, and frequent law school professor, my dear friend, W. Haywood Burns,(fn1) asked me to apply for the deanship at City University of New York School of Law (CUNY). Any request from Haywood was a good enough reason for complying.

When, to my surprise, I was selected, I had to confront the more profound question of why I should become a law school dean, or, more particularly, why I should become the dean of CUNY. I do not know whether this question is so stark for other prospective deans, who mostly come from law school faculties or have already served as deans or associate deans. From the years of conversations and a quick and unscientific review of "deaning" literature, I also suspect that my reasons for becoming a dean are not those of the majority. But the answer to that question enormously influences both what you will do as dean and how happy and/or fulfilling your deanship will be. I offer my own story and thoughts as an incentive for you to think deeply about what the purpose of legal education, and of the institution you aspire to lead, are for you.(fn2)

I have no doubt that most deans care about their students, the educational and socializing experiences provided to them by law school, and their success, however defined, after graduation.(fn3) I have not, however, heard or read other deans reveal that their students are the reason they took and do their job.(fn4) For me, the students, together with the clients they will serve as lawyers, are the reason for being a dean.

In many conversations over the ten years I was dean, I heard a variety of reasons for seeking, holding, and leaving the position. Often, especially among female deans, there was a call of necessity from the institution in which they taught and to which they were deeply committed. For others, especially those who had served as associate deans, it was an obvious, if not always appropriate,(fn5) next step. Many spoke of the "enterprise" of legal education(fn6) or the ability to lead or facilitate a community of scholars. Some lucky few extolled the particular mission of their law schools and their desire to further that mission: a purpose that resonated with my personal commitment to CUNY's public interest mission, "Law in the Service of Human Needs." But, with rare exception, no one wanted to become dean either because of the students, or explicitly in order to serve the client base their school's graduates would represent.

To check my recollection, I reviewed the Leadership in Legal Education Symposia published yearly since 1999 by the University of Toledo Law Review.(fn7) Most of the pieces discussed practical issues, like dealing with a dean's many constituencies, and predictably emphasized the faculty and the central university. A small number focused on student services or the importance of "student culture,"(fn8) but none even suggested, much less named, students as the raison d'etre of legal education. Similarly, while a few, primarily deans of Jesuit institutions, wrote about their school's missions or special obligations to serve their communities,(fn9) only one of the hundreds of articles published explicitly foregrounded serving the needs of the law school's client base.(fn10)

Making the students my primary reason for becoming dean was a relatively easy position to assert as dean of CUNY. I am not undervaluing the superb faculty, hardworking and committed staff, or the many benefits-both intellectual(fn11) and practical(fn12)-that came from being part of a great urban university. But CUNY students are, for lack of a better word, breathtaking.

They are incredibly diverse(fn13) in so many ways: race, ethnicity, class, age, immigration status, sexual preference, abling condition, and especially past life experience. Although some come directly from college, where they have already demonstrated their commitment to social justice, the majority have already done justice work, and in a myriad of ways: as union organizers, reproductive rights activists, AIDS and LGBT advocates, directors of non-profits, educators, domestic violence counselors, and activists in domestic and international human rights organizations. Their vitality, their conviction, and most of all their passion make CUNY an extraordinary place.(fn14)

Our students continuously challenge, invigorate, and re-invigorate a law school community already committed to social justice. From classroom discussions and the services they provide in CUNY's celebrated mandatory clinical program, to the endless variety of extracurricular justice initiatives they generate, it is the students who make deaning at CUNY so rewarding.(fn15) In one of my final conversations before making the decision to accept the deanship, I asked Haywood what he most loved and hated about being dean. For obvious reasons, I won't reveal his answer to the second half of the question, but the first was immediate and unequivocal: "the students." Of course!

So, if students are the reason to become a law school dean, what are the implications once the job is yours? First, I think, is ensuring that the admissions process generates students who are right for your school; who truly share the mission; whose life experiences indicate that they will benefit, and benefit from, the educational enterprise; who, at least in the case of CUNY, show the desire and capacity to be participating and valued members of a community of justice;(fn16) and who, upon graduation and thereafter, want to, and most probably will, serve the client base around which the law school is organized.(fn17) A school like CUNY, with an excellent reputation in the public interest community both locally and nationally, will attract many such students, but creative and often non-traditional recruitment efforts are also critical, especially to ensure a truly diverse student population.(fn18)

Learning, of which excellent teaching is only one component,(fn19 ) must be at the very center of the law school enterprise; it should be student-centered, taking into account the variety of learning styles, prior preparation, and experience students bring to the classroom, the clinics, and the rest of the educational environment. If you are seriously deaning because of, and for the students, this may not be easy. Legal education has always been "pervaded by status and stratification."(fn20) The ever-increasing emphasis on faculty scholarship by formal and informal rankings of law schools has necessarily resulted in a decreased emphasis on teaching(fn21) and student learning. Becoming, or serving as, a dean for students and their future clients presents a real challenge to the dominant paradigm of (name the elite school) wannabeism in much of legal education. Training and educating individual students (as opposed to the increased prestige brought by "better students," defined by entering LSAT scores) takes a distinctly secondary role.

Students are, and should be recognized as, full members of the law school community. They have much to say about the learning environment and other aspects of law school life.(fn22) They bring talents that may be of enormous benefit to the law school and may, in some instances, even alleviate resource issues.(fn23) Students are neither a mere "product" who can enhance the law school's reputation,(fn24) nor are they a necessary evil for a faculty that would much prefer to be doing high-status, cutting-edge scholarship.(fn25) There is much to be learned from students: they know things that the faculty and administration may not, and they provide different and valuable perspectives.(fn26) Students come to law school willing and wanting to do good, to make a difference, and to foster justice.(fn27) They should be listened to, they should be respected, and they should truly be heard.(fn28)

From a more selfish perspective, as one colleague suggests, talking to students may be the best thing for a dean's mental health;(fn29) it is certainly grounding. I would go further, and say that it is, or can be, one's love for the students that ultimately makes the job worthwhile.(fn30)

But students, while an end in themselves, are the means to the other reason for deaning: the service they will provide to clients as graduates and practicing lawyers, and the way that they work with and for clients...