[Vision2020] Legislators protest UI law school's diversity workshop

[Art Deco]

Looks like some Idaho legislators want Idaho's future lawyers to be as
ignorant and arrogant as they are.

w.

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 9:01 AM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Courtesy of today's (February 8, 2012) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
>
> ----------------------------
>
> **
> *Legislators protest UI law school's diversity workshop*
>
> *By Holly Bowen, Daily News staff writer *
>
> The dean of the University of Idaho's College of Law has responded to 20
> state legislators who are protesting the law school's decision to make
> students attend an upcoming professionalism and diversity workshop, telling
> the lawmakers the training is the college's response to concerns from its
> accrediting organizations.
>
> The Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Lawerence Denney and
> House Education Chairman Bob Nonini, said they were informed by several law
> school students that the college is requiring student attendance at the
> program next week and that students who do not have an excused absence will
> have a memorandum placed in their student records stating they did not
> attend.
>
> The workshop, titled "Dialogues on Professionalism and Diversity," will be
> facilitated by Blake Morant, dean of the Wake Forest University School of
> Law in North Carolina, and will be held at both the UI Moscow and Boise law
> schools. Regular law school classes will be rescheduled so students have
> opportunities to attend, according to an email sent to law students in
> January.
>
> In a letter delivered to UI College of Law Dean Don Burnett last Friday,
> the legislators - none of whom represent Latah County - acknowledged the
> importance of "the need to work with those of different ethnicities,
> backgrounds and beliefs." But they added that the memorandum would give the
> impression that students who did not attend the workshop were in
> disagreement with the workshop's subject matter or did not value
> professionalism and diversity.
>
> "As a publicly funded institution, using the threat of a memo suggesting
> clearly that a student is unprofessional, bigoted or both for not attending
> an extracurricular activity not part of the university's course catalog is
> simply unacceptable," the letter states.
>
> Legislators did not call for the workshop's cancellation but asked Burnett
> to "discontinue the threat of a letter to be placed in student files for
> those who do not attend and to simply encourage attendance through positive
> means rather than by threats which serve to mar the reputation of your
> future graduates."
>
> Burnett penned a two-and-a-half-page response Monday that provided
> legislators with information about the workshop and the rationale for
> requiring student attendance.
>
> A joint accreditation team from the American Bar Association and
> Association of American Law Schools visited the UI in October for a review
> that occurs every seven years, he said. The team, including attorneys,
> academics and law school deans, interacted both formally and informally
> with law school students, faculty and staff.
>
> "During their exit briefings with me and with university administrators,
> the team referred to these interactions and stated emphatically that the
> College of Law needed to focus additional attention upon professionalism
> and diversity," Burnett wrote.
>
> He said Morant's workshop was scheduled in response to those concerns and
> in accordance with the college's diversity plan. He said the 75-minute
> workshop sessions are intended to be "safe" conversations where
> participants are encouraged to express candid views.
>
> "Participants will be invited to raise questions, including criticisms
> regarding professionalism or diversity itself," Burnett wrote. "These will
> not be 'talk at' sessions with a 'politically correct' orthodoxy."
>
> Regarding the consequences for students who do not attend the workshop,
> Burnett said unexcused students "will have a simple 'did not attend'
> notation entered into their file." Students who have irreconcilable
> scheduling conflicts, such as family issues or inflexible employment
> obligations, will be excused.
>
> "Indeed, as of this past weekend, five students have sought an excused
> absence," he said. "Four have been approved; the other is awaiting further
> information and appears likely to be approved."
>
> He said the UI Law Student Handbook states that students may be required
> to attend mandatory informational meetings and that documentation on
> noncompliance may be included in student records.
>
> Burnett said students are entitled to review their records and to insert
> their own supplemental statements if desired.
>
> "I have also stated that a notation of non-attendance at a mandatory event
> does not affect a student's right to graduate, and in my opinion would not,
> by itself, raise a bar admission issue," he said.
>
> Morant, in a message posted to a UI law student mailing list on Tuesday,
> said the professionalism and diversity workshop is not affiliated with any
> political agenda and is designed to "inspire constructive exchange on
> issues related to your future success as professionals in a global and
> diverse world."
>
> He said the workshops will mostly consist of group discussions and that
> students will be free to leave if they choose.
>
> ----------------------------
>
> Seeya later, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Post Falls, Idaho
>
> "If not us, who?
> If not now, when?"
>
> - Unknown
>
>
>
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-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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