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As we begin the new academic year, I would like to offer a few reflections on the past year and inform you of some of our plans for the current year. But first, I want to commend SBA President Alix Gnoske and the Letter of the Law Editorial Staff for their plans to make this publication a regular source of information and ideas for the law school community. I appreciate being included in the first issue of the school year.
While controversy over a proposed parking lot dominated last year's headlines, so to speak, we should remind ourselves that much was accomplished along the way. A few highlights:
· The credentials of our entering class of students placed us in the top quarter of the nation's law schools.
· Ninety-one percent of the graduating class of 1997 had secured employment within eight months of graduation (compared to eighty-nine percent nationally).
· Our environmental law program was ranked best in the country for the fourth consecutive year.
· Our business law program was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as
a national leader in small and emerging business law.
· The faculty approved several innovations in the curriculum:
· Constitutional law was moved to the first year.· A certificate in business law was added to existing certificates in environmental and federal tax law.
· A small business component was added to our clinical program.
· A strategic plan for development of an expanded intellectual property program led to a decision to add a new faculty position in intellectual property law.
· Members of our faculty:
· Published 18 law review articles and one book.· Completed manuscripts for three other books.
· Completed annual supplements to four treatises.
· Edited two national legal publications
· Presented papers at 15 conferences in this country and three overseas.
· The law school received an anonymous gift in the form of a $4 million charitable remainder trust to support expansion of the law school facilities.
· We also offered extensive extracurricular programming for students and continuing legal education programming for the practicing bar.
All of this on top of the day to day teaching and studying, research and writing, contemplation and disputation which are at the heart of any good education. Students' evaluations of our faculty evidence that quality teaching remains the central focus of what we do.
As to parking, it will be evident to all who drive to campus that we have not added any new parking to the campus. The City's approval of the College's master plan amendments (which include a comprehensive plan for transportation and parking) has been appealed to the Land Use Board of Appeals. There is no doubt that student input on parking and transportation has been and will continue to be influential. I do not expect that everyone will be happy with the solutions which are adopted, but I am confident that they will be better solutions as a result of our discussions of the last year.
A few matters will be at the top of our agenda for this year:
We have engaged an architectural firm to assist us with our campus master plan and with the design of additions to the law school facilities. Students will have many opportunities to participate in the planning process over the next several months.
We will be conducting a search for a new faculty member with primary expertise in intellectual property law. Two students will serve on the Appointments Committee and all students will have an opportunity to visit with those candidates we bring to campus.
The Curriculum Committee plans to conduct a review of our grading system with an eye to assuring that employers have the information they need to fairly compare our students to graduates of other law schools. The Committee and the Faculty will be anxious for student input on this project and on other matters which arise in all of the faculty committees.
In addition to our ongoing efforts to expand alumni and other support of the law school, we will focus particular attention on developing the resources of our Graduate Assistance Program which seeks to provide debt relief to graduates pursuing public interest work. We will work closely with the Public Interest Law Project in this effort.
On the parking and transportation front, we will continue to work with the rest of the College in developing transportation alternatives and a long range solution to the parking needs of the entire institution. The President of the College has already announced that a parking fee will be charged effective January 1, 1999. The proceeds from that fee, the amount of which has not yet been determined, will be used to provide parking facilities and to support transportation alternatives including shuttle connections to Tri Met and to downtown Portland.
Finally, I have arranged with SBA President Alix Gnoske to host a monthly gathering at which students will be invited to discuss whatever is on their minds. Though we are not in search of complaints or problems, we want to know about those which exist. The first of these sessions will be held at noon on Monday, September 28. The second at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, October 20.
On behalf of the faculty and staff I am pleased to welcome you to the fall semester. We have an excellent faculty and staff who are anxious to serve your needs. Please let us know how we are doing.