More on "Catholic, not Conservative"

Greg S. has just posted our Dean's statement criticizing NPR's simplistic identification of St. Thomas as a "conservative" law school.  In response to  objections from our faculty -- including politically conservative faculty -- NPR has admitted that they mischaracterized us, has removed St. Thomas from the list on the web page that Michael P. referenced, and will read the Dean's short statement on the air in the next couple of days. 

This episode has impressed upon me, and others here, the point that Greg and Chuck Reid make about how difficult it is to avoid being pigeonholed into familiar and simple categories.  When NPR was researching this story, I exchanged e-mails with their researcher, emphasizing in my e-mail that "St. Thomas is not a 'conservative Christian' school as such.  It is a law school with a serious Catholic Christian identity" -- and I then explained how that led to some stereotypically "liberal" positions being strong here, like opposition to the death penalty and an emphasis on fighting poverty, as well as some stereotypically "conservative" positions like opposition to abortion and euthanasia.  I also emphasized diversity of viewpoint on our faculty on these and other issues.  NPR totally ignored all the nuances that I described for them when it ran the story.  The idea that any seriously religious law school must be turning out nothing but Republican lawyers was too good, and too easy, for NPR to pass up.  Discussion in the media of questions about religion and law remains at a depressingly low level.

The objection of so many of us at St. Thomas (from across the political spectrum) to being labeled a "conservative" law school does not arise, for most of us, from any discomfort with those "conservative" ideas that are in harmony with the Christian vision of human dignity.  Our objection is that the Christian vision, and the faithful exploration of it at a Catholic law school, is much broader than any such political label and will inevitably cut across such labels.  We have also consciously pursued the goal of having differing points of view on many political issues, while also ensuring a strong core committed to the most bedrock affirmations of the Church on matters of human dignity and social relations.

Here is a lengthier statement from our Dean, Tom Mengler, which may appear on the NPR website (they have indicated that they are considering this, but if they don't post it you'll have it here).

Tom Berg

            A report on “Morning Edition” was incorrect in implying that the

University

of

St. Thomas School of Law

is a “religiously conservative law school.”

            

St. Thomas

is a Catholic law school, and we take our religious identity seriously.  For us, that does not mean pursuing political causes, but instead helping our students to integrate their religious and personal values — whatever those values may be — into their professional identities.  We hope that this will lead our students to practice law ethically and use their legal training to serve their fellow human beings — particularly the most needy among us.

            There is nothing politically “conservative” about our mission, and the people we have attracted prove this.  The vast majority of our faculty and student body are left-of-center politically.  Our faculty includes individuals who are openly gay, who support abortion rights, who oppose the death penalty, and who have worked on behalf of other “liberal” causes.  We have chapters of the National Lawyers Guild and Out!law on campus, but we do not have a chapter of the

American

Center

for Law & Justice.  We are one of the few law schools in the country to require all of our students to do public service as a condition of graduation, and the American Bar Association recently singled out for praise the high number of our graduates who have taken Legal Aid and other public service jobs.

            Far from being “politically conservative,”

St. Thomas

is striving to prove that a law school can take religion seriously without ascribing to any political agenda.

                                                                                                Dean Thomas M. Mengler

                                                                                                Dean and Ryan Chair in Law