[Alumni-chat] about Dixon and Sparks

[Sistersara at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/12/2008 6:43:16 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
wasb at albany.edu writes:

Although  clearly skeptical
about the efforts beyond Y.S., he supported the law  school, and it wasn't 
just because he was a political scientist.  I don't  know to what extent the 
financing of the law school
played a part in that  (I don't believe we talked about it), and certainly 
the law school project  ultimately didn't work out because of the large amounts 
of funding that would  have been required to bring it up to standards. Sparks' 
opposition to other  parts of the network was certainly based on 
"overextension," which certain  speaks to financing.

Steve Wasby '59



It fell to Al Guskin to wind up the Law School during the time I served on  
the Alumni Board.  And yes, the problem was money.  Unlike other types  of 
schools, Law (and medicine) require very specific infrastructure if you want  your 
finished product to be accepted into the profession, and the ABA decides,  
for example, whether your library is adequate.  
 
But Guskin thought the biggest error with the Law School was putting it in  
DC.  DC is neither underserved by Lawyers, nor by Law Schools.  He  thought it 
could have been saved had it been, for instance in Dayton.  In  Dayton, which 
then, and perhaps now has no law school -- it could have become a  unique 
community institution and asset -- gained support from the  community, and as 
Lawyers tend to do, gradually become part of the political  class in the area.  
One of the better comparisons perhaps is Hamline  University in St. Paul -- a 
Methodist College somewhat like Ohio Weslyan --  which opened a law school about 
the same time Antioch did, and it is doing  well.  They have made a 
speciality of odd and underserved legal  specialities that don't generate high incomes 
-- things like  immigration law, and their recruitment model is different.  
They are  not so much looking for the person fresh out of College with a Pol. 
Sci. or  History degree -- they are more interested in K-12 teachers who have 
decided  that a career in Labor Law is a great move.  
 
As to Sparks -- I didn't know him particularly well, but talked with him  
just as the fight between himself (as the representative of a significant part  
of the Faculty) and Dixon was starting, and he and they clearly understood the  
core issue -- would the faculty own the curriculum or not? -- and knew it had 
 profound consequences for the institution.  I keep bringing it up because  
in re-organization and revival I suspect it still is a very core issue that  
needs to be comprehended, and however things get set up, the ownership of  
curriculum and academic standards needs to be firmly in the hands of  Faculty.  
 
As to the scotch -- I'll pass.  Decent local micro-brewed beer  and the red 
wines that keep the French Healthy are more my style.   



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