Law center dean multi-faceted
■ Author, lawyer, legal
historian and dean of the
law center, Rennard
Strickland is deeply involved
By Tonya Alanez
Oregon Daily Emerald
Rennard Strickland, in his
fourth year of his fourth deanship
as dean of the William W. Knight
Law Center, is a self-confessed
“serial dean.”
His administrative path has
taken him from the University of
Oklahoma at Tulsa, to Southern
Illinois University, to the Okla
homa City Law School to his cur
rent appointment at the Universi
ty
Strickland brings a fresh per
spective, a unique vision and in
dividualized, as well as collective
goals to the position.
In addition to his administra
tive experience, Strickland is an
attorney; former president of the
Association of American Law
Schools, a legal historian of Osage
and Cherokee heritage and author
or co-author of nearly 30 books on
Native American issues, includ
ing the 1997 publication “Tonto’s
Revenge,” a collection of essays
which aim to reassess the Indian
world view.
“The heart and soul of Strick
land’s book is his fiery belief in
the worth and dignity of the Indi
an way,” says Charles F. Wilkin
son, Moses Lasky Professor of
Law at the University of Col
orado, in the book’s foreword.
As a youngster growing up in
Oklahoma, Strickland developed
an interest in American Indian
law early on, eventually working
for Indian tribes in the region.
“Indian people are in a substan
tial transition in their life and eco
nomic ways,” Strickland said.
“There is great difficulty getting
the courts to deal with 21st centu
ry Indian ways and life as op
posed to 18th or 19th century
ways. One difficult task is getting
the courts and legal system to un
derstand the needs and interests
of Indian people.”
And at the University, his focus
is understanding the needs and
interests of the students.
“Our real hope is to provide an
education broad enough in scope
that it opens doors for students to
deal with change,” Strickland
said. “Our goal is achieving a law
Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
Dean Rennard Strickland has worked as an advocate for Native American issues.
school so that no Oregonian need
leave the state to have as fine an
education as anywhere.
“Any kind of education has to
be individualized and focused. If
I were to have a goal [it would be
that] each of our students is so
well educated that they are pre
pared to take advantage of the op
portunities of the legal profession
that they choose [whether it be]
starting out in a law firm, or as
vice president of a manufacturing
company, serving on a court, or as
an elected officer serving in the
government.”
Students’ impressions of, and
encounters with, the dean have
been, for the most part, positive.
Second-year law student
Brooke Hofer recalls meeting with
the dean in regards to a problem
with a professor.
“He was very attentive,” Hofer
said. “He gave me the impression
that he was definitely going to act
on my complaint right away.”
Brett Mersereau, another sec
ond-year law student, has not met
personally with the dean, yet re
gards him highly.
“The general idea among stu
dents is that he’s a very good rep
resentative of the law school in
the national community,”
Turn to Strickland, page 6A
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