21903 TWLS summer2000 - Texas Wesleyan School of Law - Texas ...

State Bar after the ceremony at the Texas State
Capitol.
“This is just a small way for our school to
honor these graduates for working so hard,”
Gershon said. “And I look forward to honoring
our graduates each year in this way as our law
school continues to improve and our scores
continue to rise.”
Law School Conducts Swearing-in Ceremony
for U.S. Supreme Court Bar Candidates
On Jan. 28, Texas Wesleyan University School
of Law held a swearing-in ceremony for alumni
from the classes of 1993 and 1994 seeking
admission to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar.
Justice Anne Gardner of the 2 nd Court of Appeals
administered the oath to the candidates in the
courtroom of the law school.
Membership in the U.S. Supreme Court Bar
is required of any attorney who seeks to argue
in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It is a great honor to be a member of the U.S.
Supreme Court Bar,” Dean Richard Gershon
said. “The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest
court in our country.”
In order to be admitted to the bar, candidates
must be certified as being in good standing with
the supreme court of the state in which they
are licensed to practice. They also must have
two current members of the supreme court
vouch for them and another member of the
supreme court move for their admission.
This year, 82 candidates from Texas Wesleyan
(see photo and a list of candidates on page 27)
were eligible for membership to the bar. On Jan.
10, four candidates traveled to Washington,
D.C., and were sworn in by Chief Justice
William Rehnquist on the court’s first docket of
the year. The remaining 78 candidates received
their membership to the bar of the court by
written motion.
Special Day at Texas Wesleyan University
School of Law Encourages
Minority Students
to Pursue a Legal Education
The School of Law marked National Minority
Law Student Recruitment Month with Minority
Recruitment Day on Feb. 19. The day was geared
toward making minorities aware of professional
opportunities available in the legal field. About
50 local junior high and high school students
attended the event.
“Through Minority Recruitment Day, we want
to encourage minority high school students to
think about pursuing a legal education and make
them aware that they can make a difference in
their communities through the practice of law,”
Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions
Adam Barrett said.
The day consisted of law school tours, a mock
class, a question and answer panel by students,
a career services presentation, guest speakers
from the Hispanic Law Students Association,
the Black Law Students Association and Asian/
Pacific Islander Law Students Association, and
lunch. Minority Recruitment Day at Texas
Wesleyan is funded by a grant from the Law
School Admission Council.
Law School Hosts Panel Discussion
on Hopwood v. Texas
On March 30, the law school hosted a panel
discussion titled “Hopwood v. Texas and the
Private Law School: To What Extent Does the
5 th Circuit’s Decision Apply?”
Affirmative action is at present the most
controversial constitutional law topic and
continues to be so in the wake of Hopwood v.
Texas, a case in which applicants to the
University of Texas law school sued the school
over its policy of affirmative action and won.
But the Hopwood decision has resulted in more
questions than answers. It has been vigorously
debated whether the decision applies to private
schools as well as public schools and to what
extent the decision applies to programs other
than admissions at those schools.
Efforts to remedy past discrimination toward
racial minorities have been undertaken for
nearly 30 years in this country. The U.S.
Supreme Court has addressed affirmative action
in landmark cases with such well-recognized
names as Regents of University of California v.
Bakke and Adarand Constructors v. Pena.
Brophy Gives Lecture
on the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
The law school hosted a lecture on the Tulsa
Race Riot of 1921 on March 24. Professor Alfred
Brophy of Oklahoma City University School of
Law was the featured lecturer.
The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, said to be the
most violent race riot in this country’s history,
resulted in the torture and murder of an
estimated 300 African-American citizens in
what was and is now a thriving African-
American community.
This slaughter was precipitated by what is
thought to be a false accusation by a white
woman of indecent behavior toward her by an
African-American male citizen of Tulsa. In
response, a white mob obliterated Tulsa’s
African-American Greenwood community,
10 Wesle esle esley esle an an La Lawy La wy wyer wy er • Summer 2000 Texas Wesleyan University School of Law