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 Oklahoma City Law School to his current appointment at the University.
Strickland brings a fresh perspective, a unique vision and individualized, as well as collective goals to the position.
In addition to his administrative 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, including the 1997 publication “Tonto’s Revenge,” a collection of essays which aim to reassess the Indian world view.
“The heart and soul of Strickland’s book is his fiery belief in the worth and dignity of the Indian way,” says Charles F. Wilkinson, Moses Lasky Professor of Law at the University of Colorado, 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 substantial transition in their life and economic ways,” Strickland said. “There is great difficulty getting the courts to deal with 21st century Indian ways and life as opposed to 18th or 19th century ways. One difficult task is getting the courts and legal system to understand 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 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 prepared to take advantage of the opportunities 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 second-year law student, has not met personally with the dean, yet regards him highly.
“The general idea among students is that he’s a very good representative of the law school in the national community,” Mersereau said.
In an effort to meet Strickland’s proposed goals the law school is participating in several innovative projects.
For instance, last spring the 21st Century Law School Task Force broke new ground on campus when “20 forum focus groups met with lawyers and judges currently practicing law and asked what our students will need in the courtroom and when meeting with clients, and what was most helpful from their law school experience,” Strickland said.
And, Strickland was one of dozens of legal educators to attend the first International Conference on Legal Education in Florence, Italy last spring, which aimed to “look at the question of global aspects of law and legal education and what we can learn from other countries experiences and needs in international environmental law.”
Additionally, the University is involved in a current movement in the legal world towards Appropriate Dispute Resolution, which focuses on helping individuals resolve conflicts without going to the courtroom.
Strickland’s most considerable struggle and achievement at the University co-exist in one endeavor.
“The biggest battle was building and paying for the new law school and the task of moving a law school from literally one end of campus to another,” Strickland said. “That has been both the great and glorious battle of the time.”