Legal Commentary

As part of my own modest efforts toward destroying Prawfs Blawg through boring posts I present the third and final installment of my list of dos and don'ts for new associate deans (previously begun here and continued here).

9. Read up on procedural due process.  An administrator should know administrative law.  (In fact a fellow AD told me once that administrative law professors tend to be over-represented in AD ranks.  I wouldn't be surprised.)  As associate dean you'll have to make a lot of discretionary decisions.  There will also be times when you'll be confronted with a complaint about which you can do nothing.  In both cases you should always let the affected party speak.  What they say may well change your mind, but even more importantly I've come to learn that it can be quite therapeutic to let someone state their case even if he loses, and indeed, even if he knows there's nothing you can do to help him.  Injured people sometimes really do just want to talk about their hurt.  It's part of your job to listen and sympathize, even if you can't help them, and even if the problem is partly or even all of their own making.

10. Always have a box of tissues on hand.  People will cry in your office.  Trust me on this one.

11. Prepare for the worst. In my three years as AD we planned for massive exam software malfunctions, a shooter on campus, and a bird flu outbreak (we really did).  Luckily, none of these came to pass.  But you really don't want to bet on that.

12. Prepare to be disappointed.  We're all disappointed at points in our professional lives.  Students write crummy exams, co-authors let you down, etc.  It gets worse as associate dean.  It becomes your job to keep the trains running, a goal that very often conflicts with the interests of students and faculty, who have their individual agendas to pursue.  You will feel let down when your constituents, especially your colleagues on the faculty, pursue those "selfish" goals.  Moreover, since you were probably picked as associate dean in part because of your willingness to pick up more than your share of the faculty self-governance burden, you are probably the type to sacrifice more than most for the good of the school.   That characteristic will only heighten the sting you'll feel when your colleagues push their own interests.  Get over it.  A lot of the reason there is an AD position is to allow students and faculty the freedom and the resources to pursue their agendas.  Yes, you'll need to rein them in when their agendas conflict too greatly with the school's, but a basic part of your job is to figure out a way to say "yes." 

13. Enjoy it.  For a certain type of person associate deaning can be a really fabulous job.  I found it a wonderful change of pace from the normal academic life.  Enjoy it for what it can give you.  And look forward to going back into the faculty; if my own thus-far limited experience as a former AD is any guide, you will gain a new appreciation for what a great job law teaching is.