The school paper covers the diversity training:
Diversity Training Divides College
Seriously?! Only 5 people out of 360 refused to go? You know what just happened to me?
I’ve got to say that I’m more than a little disappointed. Bullies exist because we comply. People threw fits. People got the legislature involved. The local news was on the scene. Yet it appears only 4 other people refused to comply.
For the record, it sounds like Dean Morant did a pretty good job. Unfortunately the lack of professionalism exhibited by the law school in both threatening the students, and the lack of cordial discussion among students in discussing this controversy shows that we have a very long way to go for a civil and professional dialogue. The manner in which this was implemented was more divisive to this school than having done nothing.
I’d also like to mention that during one of the meetings Dean Burnett specifically stated that the visit by the ABA had nothing to do with bringing Dean Morant in. From the article:
“The training was held in response to the American Bar Association’s suggestions to improve focus on professionalism toward diversity in particular, Don Burnett said.
Burnett, dean of the UI College of Law, said he and the law faculty took the suggestion seriously and created an obligatory program titled ‘Dialogues on Professionalism and Diversity.'”
With this program completed I’m curious exactly how the Dean would do things differently. He has apologized repeatedly for poor communication, then repeated to communicate the same thing. Now the Dean plays Will Ferrell. Each apology was like hearing Ricky Bobby say something by first stating, “With all due respect…”
