Wash U. Law School dean defends his faculty
In a letter Wednesday afternoon to the Post-Dispatch, law school dean Kent Syverud took issue with comments attributed to Phyllis Schlafly in which she personally attacked law school faculty members opposed to her receiving an honorary degree from the university on Friday. The complete text of Syverud’s letter follows:
May 14, 2008
Phyllis Schlafly, a graduate of our law school who will receive an honorary degree from Washington University on Friday, today responded to critics of the degree in an interview in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Those critics included 14 members of the law faculty who signed a letter explaining why they were disappointed in the decision to honor Mrs. Schlafly. Her response:
“They are a bunch of bitter women,” she said of her detractors. “It was 25 years ago that we buried the equal rights amendment and they are still whining about it.” Her suggestion to them? “Get a life. Move on. Try to do something with your life.”
There has been much controversy over the decision to award Mrs. Schlafly an honorary degree. I am dean of the law school, and I understand the process of the University that produced this decision. I am also proud to be part of a great university dedicated to learning and ideas. I often don’t agree with some of the ideas expressed here - including ideas of alumni and faculty. But I admire a university where people take ideas seriously and examine them on their merits, and where they are civil and respectful of others, including those with whom they disagree. I don’t think honorary degrees should be restricted to those whose ideas are popular ones, on or off campus.
I do think all members of the university community should encourage civility and respect in discourse about ideas, even when the ideas are controversial ones. I did not sign the letter from law faculty. Nevertheless, I believe it was a thoughtful and careful effort to address the issue of whom a university should honor. The women and men who signed it - my colleagues - are neither bitter nor whiners, but rather committed teachers and scholars. They care about ideas, and they have poured their hard work into educating thousands of their students - including Mrs. Schlafly - with wonderful results. They don’t need to get a life, because they have already lived one worthy of respect.
I suspect Mrs. Schlafly did not mean to refer to the law faculty’s letter when she made her remarks. In any event, I hope all of us at a university could agree that arguments about ideas should wherever possible be about ideas, rather than converted into personal attacks.
Sincerely,
Kent SyverudDean
Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor
Washington University School of Law
Check was delivered yesterday–awaiting Mink confirmation