Robert W. Adler
S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah
At the dedication of the new home for the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, I announced our new 100/100 Initiative, which establishes a firm goal of attaining 100% first-time bar passage and 100% full-time professional employment for our new graduates as quickly as possible.
Although our roles as law school administrators often diverge from our work as scholars, in this case my strong belief in the value of setting aspirational goals derives in part from my scholarship. I recently published an article on this issue in connection with the thirtieth anniversary of the Clean Water Act (CWA) (Robert W. Adler, The Decline and (Possible) Renewal of Aspiration in the Clean Water Act, 88 Wash. L. Rev. 759 (2013), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2567451). The CWA is full of highly aspirational goals: full restoration of the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters; “zero discharge” of pollutants; “fishable and swimmable waters” nationwide. Although we have not met those goals despite three decades of effort, our waters are far cleaner and healthier than when Congress adopted the law. One reason for that success is that we set the bar so high, and another is that Congress backed up the goals with concrete (although imperfect) implementing tools.
I fully expected mixed reactions to my announcement of the 100/100 Initiative, from praise to some serious skepticism. In his otherwise positive blog post, Professor Paul Caron referred to the 100/100 goals as “audacious.” I agree. They are bold, and intentionally so. We care about every one of our students, and we want every one of them to succeed.
Just as important, our goals are backed up by very concrete steps we will take to meet them as quickly and as aggressively as possible. For bar passage rates, those measures include better academic support to our second and third-year students; increased and enhanced formative assessments during core bar exam courses; and better predictive modeling of those students who face a higher risk of not passing the bar exam. For employment, they include more one-on-one mentoring; improved student-alumni networking; exploratory incubator programs; and rural job placement programs.
I am quite serious about our intent to meet these goals. And if we fail to meet the 100/100 goals, we will add and modify strategies with the intent of getting closer and closer. Every year. As aspirational goals, they prompt us to do better than we are now, and better than we would have otherwise. Thus, even as goals, they will serve a very useful purpose. In my CWA article, I labeled this phenomenon “aspiration as asymptote.” The goals prod us to get closer and closer, even if we never quite reach the end.
The alternative attitude, which I refer to in my CWA article as “the pathology of excessive aspiration,” is that we view such lofty goals as “so ambitious that they cannot possibly be met,” and therefore we simply stop trying. That unfortunate and pessimistic view, I fear, is how some in the legal community now view legal education today, particularly in light of declining applications and other challenges.
Our task is to shun the pathological view, and instead to set—and to use—lofty aspirations as challenges to push us to do better. Our students deserve no less.