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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 1997)
Strickland: School student-centered ■ Continued from Page 1 can happen. Q | What got you interested in law? II | In the very broadest sense, I think “ = it was because I was a smart aleck, argumentative child, (laughs) People would say to me, “You ought to be a lawyer.” So that was a part of it. Also, when I was in high school and col lege, I was very active in interscholastic and intercollegiate debate. I think I tend to be someone who is verbal, and someone who is interested attacking particular problems in society. And I think those are things that led me natu rally into law. Q Any “problems in society” in particular? II Most of my career has been de *'■ voted to American Indian law. So that’s a crucial one that is interesting to me. I’ve also been very much interested in what we can do to provide opportuni ties to enfranchise individuals in this society both in political and economic sense. So I’m interested in economic development, particularly in Native American, African-American and recent immigrant communities—how it is possible to bring people who are either new to the society or new to the oppor tunities of the society into the main stream of the system. I have a sense that if there really is one thing that has been responsible for much of the pros perity and achievement of this country, it has been that as new groups have come into the country, we provide the opportunity for people to be educated, to move i nto the professions and see their sons and daughters in the next generation haveachance to do things that they couldn’t. Q I understand thatyourfamily background is Native American. A | Yes, my father is Cherokee. My i mother is Osage (pronounced oh sayge). I grew up in a little town called Muskogee, Ok., which was the admin istrative capital for a group of south eastern Indian tribes. The college I went to, the undergraduate college which was Northeastern Oklahoma, was the first college-level education founded by an I ndian tribe. It was founded by the Cherokees just before the American Civil War. When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the state took over the operation, what had been called the Cherokee Seminary. Qj So, do you feel that your family ' and the area in which you grew up influenced you? Oh, absolutely. Sure. Qj Have you ever had a private prac i tice? Aj No,Iwentdirectlyintoteaching. “' I’ve been actively involved primar ily as an expert witness or as an arbitra tor in a number of cases overtime. I just finished 31/2 years as chair and arbi trator of a commission appointed by the federal court to revise the Osage Constitution. I’ve been an academic. Qj What programs do you hope to improve, and what are some of the successful current programs that you hope to maintain? Aj I thinkthe wonderful thing about this particular law school is that it isn't a violin with a single stroke. It is an institution that has a long and historic contribution in a number of areas. The Ocean and Coastal Law program, par ticularly its international aspect, is a world-class program. The Environmental Law Program is again one that is a pioneer in the pro gram, has great strength and is widely respected. The Law and Entrepreneur ship Program, which is a more recent program, is also, I think, a truly signifi cant program. The thing I really hope we can do is not just strengthen those programs, but to receive the synergy that exists between many of the pro grams in this institution. For example, my hope is that with Law and Entrepre neurship, we will work with the Envi ronmental Program and work on things like green capitalism—methods by which it is possible to simultaneously build an economy and build an ecology. I obviously have an interest in look ing at things like “what are we able to do to assist in economic development and the use of entrepreneurship on Indian reservations?” Isn’t there something besides gaming that can build sustain able economicgrowth? I think if you were to ask outside the State of Oregon, “What is the strength of the University of Oregon Law School?” people would probably say it is an institution which has a very strong tradition of training and educating stu dents in the fundamentals of the prac ticeoflaw. Q| What are some special skills or ■ experience that you bring to this law school that you think will benefit? A] With my usual modesty— i (laughs)—why am I wonderful? Qj Basically. Ai I think one of thethings I bring is “i 30 years of being part of higher education in a range of institutions. I think having been president of the As sociation of American Law Schools, I had an opportunity to work with and in many ways be intimately familiar with what is happening in a range of law schools across the country. I think one of thethingsthat I bring, and every place I’ve been in, faculty members will say is the case, I bring a very strong commitment to the law school being a student-centered place. Students are the reason we are here, so it is importantto me we understand that. I think because my field of special ty is American Indian law, legal anthro pology and legal history, I have an ap preciation of the importance of change in ourability to prepare students to deal with a world that’s changing. QDo you have any specific goals for minority students as far as re cruitment and education? A I As you may know, one of the things that I have done, and proudest of having done, was I chaired the original minority enrollment task force of the Law School Admission Council, which produced a million to LSAT fees to be used for minority re cruitment. What I really want to do is to have programs here that are so strong that we are attracting a diverse student body based on the education experi ence that we can give students. My commitment and belief is that the real beneficiaries of diversity of a law school and legal community are the non-mi nority people who are enrolled. They have an opportunity to understand and see the law and what it can do from dif ferent viewpoints. But, I’ve observed over the years that often some of the greatest contribu tions that are made in fields of concern are made in fact by non-minorities. A graduate of ours, who is at the Universi ty of Washington, taught one of the very first classes on Indian law. 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