Strickland: Dean will teach American Indian law course
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school so much. But it was, in
some respects, so trying that as an
escape I worked on this book.
You’ve got to have a life in addi
tion to academic life.
In fact, 1 gave the summer com
mencement speech on Saturday.
And I closed with the movie
“Auntie Marne,” when she says,
“Life is a banquet, and most poor
suckers are starving to death.”
That was part of my message in
that speech.
Q Do you teach here?
A; Yes. I’ll be teaching this
! spring, the basic course in
American Indian law, the intro
ductory course. Then, the follow
ing year, I will be teaching a semi
nar in American Indian law and
policy.
This first year I did not teach
due in substantial part to the fund
drive. I’ve been on the road asking
people for money.
QSo, are you going to be one of
the first professors with ex
pertise in Native American law?
A; Well, Mary Wood, who’s on
I our faculty, is a young schol
ar who has done some really very
exciting things on Native Ameri
cans and natural resources. Other
people: we have 11 people who
teach in natural resources and en
vironmental law. So, a number of
them have significant contact
with Indian law.
QHow do you feel about com
ing to Eugene, a less racially
diverse community?
A | One of the nice things about
1 the state is that Oregon now
has about a dozen federally recog
nized Indian tribes. So, in terms of
the state of Oregon, there’s a very
rich opportunity to visit with In
dian peoples.
The University is in the midst
of another fund drive for a new
Native American longhouse that
will be by the new law school. We
have a substantial commitment at
the University to be of service to
the Native people. One fellow, a
Choctaw, received his Ph.D. on
Saturday. It’s not, in terms of the
Indian community, so isolated.
QHow does the amount of di
versity compare with other
states?
A: That’s a substantial number.
s Oregon is, I think, one of
maybe 10 or 12 states that have
substantial, active, ongoing tribal
groups. There’s a Bureau of Indi
an Affairs area office in Portland.
It’s a state with a good, strong In
dian leadership.
QAnd where do you see your
work?
A l My first task is to learn more
1 about the Indian tribes and
Indian people in Oregon. Because
the law as it applies and the cul
ture of historical experiences are
different from tribe to tribe. There
are over 500 tribes, bands, and vil
lages of Native people. One of the
things I’ve been doing is trying to
visit each of the tribes. I’ve met
with a number of tribal councils
and tribal business corporations
to talk about some of the things
we could do that would be help
ful.
Q: How is your work directed?
i What’s your agenda?
A| The principle focus of my
j work has been to help Indian
and non-Indian participants of le
gal issues to see the point at
which they have shared interests,
at which the opportunities for In
dian tribes intersect the opportu
nities for the state as well. For ex
ample, we have a law and entre
preneurship center here at the law
school. And one of the things
we’re looking to do is to work
with tribes in helping them estab
lish tribal-based corporations and
business opportunities.
I think my real agenda in terms
of long-term contribution to the
state is to revitalize the historical
ly strong Indian law program that
the University of Oregon has had.
And to assist our graduates, many
of whom will not work in the
field of Indian law, to understand
what the issues are when they
have clients who happen to be In
dian people. It’s really, I think, to
try to build a bridge between the
Indian and non-Indian communi
ty and between the lawyers who
are trained to deal with Indian is
sues and lawyers who are part of
the general public area who don’t
believe, or at least have a sense,
that they’re going to need to deal
with Indian issues. For example,
anybody who deals with the do
mestic relations area may find
themselves facing the Indian
Child Welfare Act so that the
adoption of a child may raise is
sues, if you have an Indian child,
that many lawyers just don’t
know about. That’s what’s re
quired, is to know about these is
sues.
Q; How do your work and your
i living interrelate?
- , One of the things, for exam
A| pie, is that I’m a collector of
American Indian things. And
I put together a collection of over
200 American Indian paintings
and sculpture done by Native
people. I gave that, as a gift, to the
Heard Museum [of Native Ameri
can and Primitive Art] of Phoenix.
We did a touring show that went
to the Smithsonian and is now in
Australia and New Zealand. In
fact, the show was at the Portland
Arts Center about five years ago.
I’ve done a lot of work on the
art and then in terms of how it re
lates to law. In recent years, we’ve
had several pieces of federal legis
lation that have limited owner
ship and sale of works by Native
Americans.
QAnd you worked for that leg
i islation?
Ai Yes. I was on the committee
I of the American Museum As
sociation that reviewed that. Then
I was the consultant to a group
that the Senate and House put to
gether to review and compare this
legislation.
QHow do you see the new law
j school building enabling the
school and its programs?
Aj It will be an absolutely state
l of-the-art law school. We will
have the capacity to deal with on
line legal research. We will be ab
solutely cutting edge. We were
able to look at educational archi
tecture — the architecture of edu
cation — to create classrooms that
will maximize interaction.
About one-third of our library
collection is in storage. So we’ll
bring that out so that students can
have immediate access to those
materials.
I think it’ll also be very impor
tant in terms of our going to create
a professional community in the
law school. We’ll have space in
which students can interact with
each other and we can model for
our students what life as a lawyer
and law professional is as they in
teract with each other.
Q|: Soundsexciting.
A: It really is. It's a magnificent
i opportunity for, I think, not
just the law school community
but for the entire University. We
will have public space that the
community of Eugene will use.
The Wayne Morse Chair and their
operations will be housed in the
building.
QWhat tradition is there at
Oregon as far as the Law
School dean goes?
A; I don’t plan to run for the
: Senate, (laughing) I don't
think I’m a very good politician.
I’ve certainly had a sense that
there’s a strong tradition of the
Law School dean being actively
involved in the state and I want to
do that. When President Frohn
mayer was dean of the law school,
he, of course, became much more
rooted both at Oregon and politi
cally. But much of what he did as
dean of the law school was to go
into communities and be in
volved in helping people under
stand law. One of the things that
I’m very anxious for is becoming
involved in a much more substan
tial way with education about law
for elementary and secondary
schools.
I have a line which I use with
some regularity that, "Education
about the law is too important to
be limited exclusively to would
be lawyers.” We need to help stu
dents, particularly high school
age students, to get a sense of
what they can and cannot do so
that when students go out and
rent an apartment for the first
time, they have a sense of what a
landlord’s obligations and what a
tenant’s obligations are. So then a
person’s first dealing with the law
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