Valpo Law School, its graduates, and the greater university, have earned their Crusaders nickname through decades of fighting for social justice. But as those fights grew in scope and consequence, opposition has similarly increased by those who profited from injustice.
Having now succeeded at flushing Valpo Law School down the toilet, a vortex may be developing that draws in a substantial amount of its prior foes and the entire system of justice. As the judiciary continues to lean toward favoring the 1%, the chance increases of a breaking point for widespread social revolt, sinking any remaining public trust down to (or even below) the other two branches.
Valpo Crusading for Social Justice
If you have an interest in social justice, especially within the law, PLEASE, PLEASE take the time to read this impressively comprehensive history of Valpo Law School, by Michael I. Swygert, and consider social justice issues during each time period.
The further you dig, the more impressive Valpo's decades long battle for social justice causes of all kinds becomes. And honestly, there is really no good way to summarize it here. Mentioning one, or even a few causes, demeans every other. While there are causes more near and dear to me (civil rights), I will instead focus on those that support my argument.
Contributory Historical Factors
Just imagine if no rivers divided the wealth of Manhattan from Newark, just an imaginary state line. The dynamics of Gary, Indiana were actually worse than that in the early 1900's.
Chicago's economic success has always avoided Gary by staying West of the state border. With wind direction and pollution, Chicago's wealthy spread in the opposite direction. Chicago laborers during the early 1900's were typically skilled, began to develop strong unions, and diverse industries and companies competed for them. These factors promoted increasingly better labor laws and conditions.
Ten miles East, U.S. Steel created Gary in 1906. Most residents migrated into Gary to work at what quickly became the world's largest steel mill. Nearly 30% of Gary residents in 1920 were foreign born, and nearly 20% were African-Americans from the Great Migration. Unlike Chicago laborers, Gary's were less likely to possess a trade skill, or be literate in English. And labor laws in Gary were legislated 150 miles away in Indianapolis. At the time, and still today, much of Indiana's laws focused on agriculture. Further, with a powerful KKK presence, little consideration was given to Gary's minority laborers in law. Even with 18,000 African-American residents living in Gary in 1930, the city was still strictly segregated.
In 1910, Gary became an unavoidable sight for any travelers between Valparaiso and Chicago (including students traveling west) once a railway was completed. Valpo Law students, most of whom were working themselves through "the poor man's Harvard," would have seen the developing disparity. Gary was the only steel town under martial law during the 1919 Steel Strike with the US Army called in.
Notable Evidence of Valpo's Crusades
- Congressman George W. Norris, an 1883 graduate, populist liberal, and fiercely independent Republican for Nebraska (originally from Sandusky), drafted the Norris-LaGuardia Act, correcting widespread labor abuses, such as "yellow dog contracts." Wisconsin Senator John Blain, also a Valpo Law grad, assisted Norris in campaigning for better labor laws. Norris supported FDR's candidacy, and was a key supporter of the Tennessee Valley Authority blocking Henry Ford's Muscle Shoals dam proposal. In his autobiography, Norris describes Valpo "as the 'poor boys' school': hardly a student enrolled [who wasn't] working his way through. Very few of the pupils came from rich families. As a result, there was on the campus of Valparaiso a spirit of democracy and of deep companionship..."
- Numerous women graduated from Valpo Law starting as early as 1898 with Florence Higgins. That same year, with her Valpo hiring, Higgins became one of three women to first teach law. While most law schools continued to deny or severely restrict female enrollment, Valpo attracted a growing number.
- Starting in the 1940's Dean John Morland attempted to recruit African-American students with the first graduating in 1950. Many others followed going on to influential roles in politics, legal education, and society.
- Rev. Andrew Schulze, a white professor in the VU Theology Department who had previously pastored several Black Lutheran congregations in still segregated Missouri, was part of the group jailed in Albany, Georgia in 1962 protesting Black voting rights with Martin Luther King, Jr. Valpo President O.P. Kretzmann paid for his bail along with a telegram to President Kennedy protesting Albany's lack of civil rights and treatment of protestors. In 1963 Schulze and Kretzmann joined 90 religious leaders to discuss race relations with President Kennedy. In 1965, 40 Valpo students and another professor, joined the Selma march.
- Richard Gordon Hatcher, a 1959 Valpo Law grad, was elected as Gary's first African-American mayor, and grew to prominence within the DNC.
- Starting in 1966, Valpo Law students began volunteering with the Legal Aid Society of Gary.
- Partially as a result of redoubled efforts to attract minorities, Robert D. Rucker, a Gary native, Vietnam veteran, and recent IU Northwest graduate, enrolled in 1973. Rucker's monumental contributions ended with appointment to Indiana's Supreme Court in 1999. He just retired in May 2017.
Coming Injustice, and Not Just Valpo
Nearby law schools like the University of Chicago, Loyola, and Notre Dame price prohibit most working class families. Consider that total attendance costs for the University of Chicago are $95,000 per year! A U. of Chicago Law grad is very limited in the careers that will produce the income necessary to pay off those loans. Indiana University's Law School, while more affordable, leans towards more conservative, establishment principles, not more liberal focused social justice causes. None of these schools takes a day off school in January to celebrate MLK and offer free legal advice to those in need, like Valpo Law does.
So someone wanting to help underrepresented litigants as a public defender, making less than $50,000 per year, where do they go for an affordable degree focused on social justice? If there is no good answer, then this isn't a problem for this one person. It is a problem for the entire justice system. And given the lack of public defenders, it appears this is a problem. And it is only getting worse. But forcing pro bono is treating a symptom not the disease.
Valpo for most of its history, met a critical need to justice in the Midwest, even the entire country. There are only so many big law firms, or federal judgeships. And it will never be common for a top graduate of a top law school, from a wealthy family to spend their life drowning in public defense cases.
Does every public defender need to prove competent in commercial or tax law for the bar exam? What expectation do we have of their educational success? Is there seriously no middle ground? And aren't ABA standards really attempting to create Lake Wobegon?
Heather Welch, prior to becoming a judge, after graduating from Valpo Law school in 1994, worked as a Deputy Prosecutor for Marion County possibly earning around $45,000 in today's dollars. While Welch's Valpo tuition was around $25,000 in today's dollars, she still seemed to have some financial concerns at graduation. When asked in 2012, something she wished she knew when graduating law school, Judge Welch demonstrated her keen research mind, and thoughtful planning by answering that "the average starting salary for a new lawyer was not 250k per year!" If this ratio was difficult for Welch, then what about paying over $50,000 per year today, and earning around the same amount annually. How can a public defender ever expect to pay off those loans while supporting a family?
This discrepancy is denying justice to those most in need of competent representation. With less lawyers pursuing public defense, America's over jailed lower class is only going to get worse. And while some research suggests too many lawyers seeking too few positions, maybe having 30% more public defender positions, so attorneys actually know the facts of their clients' cases from memory and before a court hearing, might actually reduce injustice. And to do this, public defender compensation must be cut by 30%. To allow that student debt must be cut by 30% as well. To do that, law schools need to exist with 30% lower tuition. And that can happen if they employ less than top tier educators who only teach, but are passionate about fighting injustice.
This was Valpo's focus for years before they lost their way, as we will see in the next post.
This was Valpo's focus for years before they lost their way, as we will see in the next post.
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