Statement from senior faculty of the UW Law School

The following statement is issued by senior faculty of the University of Wisconsin Law School. We include faculty at the rank of associate or full professor. While many of our untenured faculty and other members of our community in the Law School have expressed their support for this statement, we have decided to limit the names on this statement to members of the senior faculty.

The last few weeks have been a trial for all of us in the University of Wisconsin Law School community. We believe in our Hmong students, and trust their sincerity and integrity. We also know our faculty colleague well, and trust in his integrity and good intentions. As senior members of the faculty, we are deeply saddened by the reputational damage done both to our students and to a respected member of our faculty, much of it intensified by the mass media and groups outside our community, whose interest in escalating the controversy only served to make a true reconciliation more difficult.

The University of Wisconsin Law School has long stood for academic excellence, diversity of experience and viewpoint, awareness of the role of law in society, and attention to teaching the law as it operates in action. Furthermore, this faculty has always been committed to academic freedom, encompassing freedom of expression, freedom of thought, and freedom from governmental or institutional interference. At the same time, we recognize the inherent power and authority that teachers have in relation to students. With that authority comes a responsibility and duty to our students, a duty that requires us to challenge our students while also respecting their experiences, backgrounds and perspectives. Together, as teachers and students, we may not always succeed in this endeavor. But it is not our mistakes that are the hallmark of our school. Rather, it is how we respond to conflict and ensure that learning continues.

Consistent with these longstanding values, we call on our community — faculty and students — to reaffirm our common commitment to create and ensure a classroom environment that allows the free and frank exploration of ideas while preserving sensitivity to the effect our words have on others, awareness of the multiple understandings of the same events by diverse people, and the need to resolve misunderstandings with attention to the unintended effects of our actions.

Finally, we, as senior faculty of the UW Law School, wish to assure all of our students, including our Hmong students, that they are cherished as an integral part of our community and we anticipate with pride their entry into the legal profession. Although the last few weeks have been painful and while we now confront the challenge of repairing the reputation of our institution and its faculty and students, we are proud that our students are willing to challenge us and that we as their faculty are willing to engage these issues.

As lawyers, we live in a world of words. Words can wound, but now it is time to show that they can also heal.

Signed by: Steven Barkan, Richard Bilder, Tonya Brito, Ralph Cagle, Peter Carstensen, R. Alta Charo, Carin Clauss, Kenneth Davis, Peter DeWind, Walter Dickey, Howard Erlanger, Keith Findley, Ted Finman, Martha Gaines, Linda Greene, Kathryn Hendley, Charles Irish, James Jones, Leonard Kaplan, Ben Kempinen, John Kidwell, Heinz Klug, Jane Larson, Michele LaVigne, Stewart Macaulay, Arthur McEvoy, Elizabeth Mertz, Thomas Mitchell, Richard Monette, Victoria Nourse, John Ohnesorge, Judith Olingy, Pilar Ossorio, Thomas Palay, John Pray, Krista Ralston, Meredith Ross, David Schwartz, Gordon Smith, Michael Smith, Ken Streit, Gerald Thain, Joseph Thome, Cliff Thompson, David Trubek, Louise Trubek, Alan Weisbard, Cheryl Weston, William Whitford.