I love lawyers, law students, and my colleagues in the legal academy. I participated in this forum because I thought it would be an effective way to protect the objects of my affection. My goal was to embolden my colleagues, within the context of faculty meetings or other forums of faculty governance, to squarely address structural change and hard choices affecting their institutions. And if these issues have already been raised (and they have at dozens of schools), to more vigorously push for a plan of action until the school is safely out of danger.
The problems affecting legal educaton these days are overwhelmingly structural in nature; they have been buildng for decades. So we miss the mark when we place the blame on failings of character. That said, a strong showing of character is the only way--the only way--we are going to solve these problems. The single most important thing we can do right now is to set aside our own fears and agendas and focus singlemindedly on the long term interests of students and the profession as a whole. If we do that, the fate of law professors will more than take care of itself.
We take action to protect the people and institutions we love. In retrospect, my intent this week was to engage in tough love. (Tough Love I, Tough Love II) I hope my posts were useful and constructive.
-- William Henderson, Indiana University Maurer School of Law
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