I’ve noticed several fellow law professors posting on Facebook and on Twitter pondering whether to address the current crisis in class. It’s a legitimate question. And, I think, a hard one.
I was teaching Business Associations at Illinois the morning after Desert Storm started. I told the students it felt weird to be talking about agency law while thousands of people were at war. I also told them that my dad had been a career soldier, so I was really feeling strong emotions. That took about a minute.
But then I told them that part of being a professional is doing your job even in times of stress. Being a fiduciary meant showing up and getting on with your duties to your clients even when you feel like curling up in a corner. So I started teaching (scope of employment, if memory serves).
The law school newspaper said I was the only faculty member who mentioned the war. (It was a different time. Today, of course, there would be multiple institutional emails. Which is probably a good thing.)
In recent years, I’ve had younger colleagues tell me I need to be more sensitive and use class time to talk about what we’re all feeling. Maybe so, although I am personally very uncomfortable with that approach. Especially at UCLA, where what I’m feeling is often out of step with the majority. (Although I assume that I join 99.9999% of my colleagues and students in condemning the insurrection we saw the other day.) But even setting that aside, it’s just not in my comfort zone.
I’m not sure what I would do if I had to teach this week. I’m grateful UCLAW doesn’t start until after the Inauguration. I think I’d give them some version of what I gave the students at Illinois, although maybe accompanied with a more express acknowledgement that that’s hard. Because I think that principle is something they need to learn and one we don’t talk about enough these days.
FWIW, I got amazing student evaluations that semester. Many of them spoke of that moment with warmth and admiration.
