As the president of the Black Law Students Association, I would like to address University Law Prof. Doug Leslie’s recent actions. His decision to send a mass e-mail soliciting student feedback in connection with a recent, confidential investigation into his teaching performance raises several concerns.
In providing details about the recent investigation, Leslie unfortunately failed to preserve the anonymity of those students involved. Professor Leslie volunteered information reported to the Law School Dean in confidence by students. His e-mail discussed three specific issues raised during the confidential investigation and referenced the students involved by gender, marital status, race, religion, or some combination thereof. For example, given our close-knit environment, identifying the few racial minority students in a specific thirty-member class is tantamount to revealing their actual identities to the law school community.
It is not clear why Leslie opted to circumvent a process designed to protect all parties involved in favor of a broad-based appeal for additional student feedback. Additional feedback could have been solicited in a number of other ways. Specifically, Leslie could have requested that the existing confidential process encompass students from his other classes. Instead, other students may now be unwilling to engage in this investigation out of concern that their comments will be disseminated to the greater law school community and other forums such as law school blogs.
Additionally, an unintended consequence of Leslie’s e-mail is its polarizing effect. A confidential process established to address specific concerns has been transformed into a referendum on Leslie. By sending the mass e-mail, Leslie has inadvertently created a speculative debate about what took place in his classroom, which has isolated some members of the law school community. This result is contrary to the student environment at the Law School and undermines a well-structured process administered by the dean to fairly address the issues raised about Leslie. We hope that Leslie and other administrators involved in this process will respect the privacy of those involved and the integrity of the Law School’s review process.
Last, Leslie’s decision has implications that extend beyond current students. The timing of the e-mail, sent the first day of Admitted Students Weekend, highlights this critical issue. As admitted students, particularly minority students, consider the Law School, they are currently confronted with a unique situation, which is not representative of our student experience. The Black Law Students Association, along with many members of the student community, has worked to dispel the negative stereotypes that undermine the multicultural community of the Law School. Given the public nature of this investigation, it would be impossible for an admitted student to ignore an instance where private student concerns are now trivialized by a professor’s exploitation of authority and electronic resources to create a forum outside of the investigative process.
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