The Great Change: Turning Cathy into a Lawyer

After our last dean left, Professor O'Rourke became Dean ad interim. The ad interim suffix almost because a joke, because she immediately filled the role fully and perfectly. From the get-go there were tangible changes for the better. Some obvious (like fixes to the building), some behind the scenes that made the school run smoother, and many that made life at law school be - to the extent that it's ever possible to be - enjoyable. Moreover she quickly gained a reputation with students, faculty, staff and alumni for being accessible and responsive - qualities every institution needs from its dean.

But the ad interim appendage isn't a joke, and neither the school nor she can indefinitely maintain this status quo. We need a dean who can be dean without the suffix, someone who can make a commitment to the school, and vice versa, for the long haul. And so a nationwide search for a permanent dean was (eventually) launched.

It has been explained to me that a nationwide search is necessary in order to have credibility. Apparently BU has been criticized for having promoted too often from within, and the institution loses esteem when it looks so insular. Also, internal candidates who may eventually get the job look better when they are chosen out of a pool of qualified candidates. OK, fine. However, none of this changes the fact that Dean O'Rourke herself is the perfect candidate for the job.

One of the other reasons it might be good to get an external candidate is that in filling the opening with someone having a distinguished reputation it can provide the school with an immediate shot in the arm in terms of its own reputation. But consider: Dean O'Rourke is so well-regarded that she's currently being sought after by at least two other law schools for their dean positions. If she can shore up their reputations, surely keeping her should also up ours - just as losing her would certainly diminish it.

But worse than that, losing her to another school would mean losing her as our dean (to say nothing of losing her as a professor). Who could possibly be a substitute? Now, maybe in five or ten years from now the institution's needs might evolve to something beyond her expertise. But right now what the school needs, she can offer. Not just in terms of specific talents like budget management, but in terms of community building.

BUSL is emerging from a rough patch. It managed to crawl up in the rankings over the years, but then with the messes involving the both the BU president and BUSL's previous dean (and the related building fund controversy), it seemed to teeter a bit. Dean O'Rourke was able to stop the slide, address many of the concerns that had been long ignored, and overall greatly succeed in strengthening the institution not just as a school, but as a community, pulling together students, faculty, staff and alumni and making us all feel good about the place. BUSL isn't a place that people want to grab their degrees and run away from. It's a place we can feel proud to be connected to.

This is what BUSL needs right now, to continue along on this path she's blazed. And who better than her to continue it? It would come at no sacrifice: no loss of reputation, no compromising of credential. Her academic reputation is stellar, as both a scholar and a teacher. But more than that, we know that she cares about this school. We've seen it already; what the school needs now, more than anything else, is to keep seeing it some more. What else could we be possibly holding out for that we think we might get from some other dean?

It's really hard to imagine how someone else could do a better job than she has. Because it seems that the best thing any dean could do for the school is to let her run it.

Edit 4/29: The students signed a petition to thank Dean O'Rourke for her service to the school. Given that a typical class is around 270, and that there are over 280 signatures, this means that a third of the JD students in the entire school were inclined to sign.