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A Message from Members of the Chicago-Kent Law Faculty to the Chicago Legal Community

Several recent news stories in the Chicago media report on the denial of tenure to a member of the faculty at Chicago-Kent College of Low. As tenured members of the faculty, we are disappointed that some of the media coverage of this matter poorly reflects the realities of the situation.

Tenure decisions at academic institutions are sometimes quite difficult. This one was. Although most of us voted in favor of tenure, we all recognize that reasonable minds could differ on the merits of this case. Under our academic rules, Bs at most academic institutions, the dean and the faculty make separate recommendations to the university administration with regard to tenure decisions; neither the clean nor the university administration is obligated to agree with the recommendations of the tenured faculty. Dean Perritt explained his assessment of the case to us, and we respect the decision that the dean made to follow his own judgment in recommending against tenure.

Unfortunately, the recent news stories have obscured the situation, trying to draw public significance out of a routine, albeit difficult, tenure decision. In particular, an article in the Chicago Tribune (Monday, May 21, page 1) suggests, by way of comments from the candidate and her supporters, that this case reflects a conflict between teaching and scholarship. It is true that the research role of tenured faculty is extremely important at Chicago-Kent, but it is not more important than excellence in teaching. Indeed, our experience is that productive scholars are generally better teachers. Accordingly, we reject the false dichotomy between a commitment to teaching and a commitment to research, and we strive consistently to integrate theory and practice in our teaching.

In contrast to the suggestion reported in the Tribune article that our expectations regarding both schol-

arship and teaching somehow prejudice female faculty, four out of five of the most recent awards of tenure have been to outstanding women candidates. Moreover, two of the last three promotions made to the rank of Distinguished Professor-the highest rank at Chicago-Kent-have also been to women. Nor is there a conflict, as that article suggests, between the law school's supposed quest for external grant funding and the teaching mission. Whatever may be true for other departments of universities generally, very little grant money is available to support the kind of research clone at law schools, and such grants consequently have little impact upon the setting of law school priorities.

The Tribune article also gives expression to the idea that this tenure denial might reflect a conflict between technology and humanism. We categorically reject this idea. The technology-based initiatives that have been undertaken are, of course, fully compatible with the priorities of our parent institution, Illinois Institute of technology. Indeed, the dean's interest in applications of technology in the law was an important consideration in the faculty's decision to support his appointment as dean. What is more, such initiatives can serve the most laudable humanistic goals. For example, one project-called Operation Kosovo- has involved students and faculty creating electronic records of human rights abuses in the former Yugoslovia, records that otherwise might never have existed. Our Institute for Science, Law and Technology supports such things as path breaking work on the ethical and public policy issues associated with the Human Genome Project. And our Access to Justice initiative is developing technology to assist those with lower incomes to access and navigate through the legal system.

Of course, many activities at Chicago-Kent have no particular technological focus. As just one pertinent example, members of the Chicago-Kent faculty, with the full support of this dean, initiated the Institute for Law and the Humanities in 1999, and that institute is quite active in developing programs of interest

to faculty, students and the public.

All tenure denials are agonizing events. The difficulty of this one stems from differences of opinion about the strength of the scholarly record presented and projections of scholarly productivity in the- future. But there is no merit in the assertion that the denial derives from an underemphasis on teaching, from an overemphasis on technology, or from some kind of insensitivity to gender differences. Chicago-Kent is proud of its commitment to excellence in both research and teaching as well as its service Io the local, national and international communities.

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