U of Baltimore School of Law Dean Steps Down

By Cynthia Dipasquale

Gilbert Holmes, whose tenure as dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law ends this week, wants to make one thing clear.

“It was my decision to step down. And it truly, truly was my decision- I decided to leave because I thought it was best for the institution,” Holmes said.

“I think it’s really important within an institution that there’s a great working relationship between the members of the senior leadership,” he explained, “and the working relationship that I had with the president wasn’t great.”

Holmes brushed aside requests to be more specific, saying he’s at peace with his decision and “chose to look forward to the next challenges the Lord has for me.” And University of Baltimore President Robert Bogomolny – who denies the “word on the street” that he asked Holmes to resign – praised his leadership last week, calling him “a very popular and well-liked dean.”

“As a general matter, he did some interesting things on diversity and issues of writing and legal analysis and a whole variety of programs in clinics in the law school,” Bogomolny said.

Successes and strains

At six years, Holmes says his administration outlasted the average four-year “lifespan” of other law school deans.

Holmes came to the University of Baltimore in 2001, following a two-year stint as associate dean for academic affairs and budget at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law. He previously had held posts at two other law schools and was in private practice for 16 years before starting a career in legal education.

In addition to creating new clinics and law centers, attracting an academically stronger student body and increasing the size of the faculty, he focused his time in Baltimore on making the school’s reputation match its contribution to the state, where 78 percent of its graduates remain, he said.

Holmes also is credited with reintroducing alumni to the school, making them a resource to the students and the school’s coffers.

“He was well thought of in the larger legal community and among the lawyers in the state,” said law professor Jose F. Anderson. “And a lot of it had to do with the fact that many alumni really identified with him because he practiced law in a small firm for many years before entering legal education, so that instantly gave him street credibility.”

James B. Butler, an assistant attorney general and member of the law alumni society’s executive committee, noted that Holmes understood from prior experience the importance of strong alumni involvement. His persistence in bringing graduates back to the school will be missed, he said.

One of Holmes’ regrets is that he wasn’t able to translate his success in developing relationships into more money for the law school, even with the creation of a dedicated development office.

“I think we did a lot of groundwork and, depending on how that work is built upon in the future, the law school may be in a position to receive more regular and higher regular gifts, as well as major gifts,” he said.

He also struggled with securing more money from the state. While Holmes lobbied to reduce a disparity in funding between the University of Baltimore School of Law and the University of Maryland School of Law, all he got were funding cuts under the Ehrlich administration.

The strain from those funding cuts might have been a pressure point between Holmes and the faculty, suggested law professor Byron L. Warnken.

“Gil didn’t have enough money,” he said. “So that made it tougher for everybody. And the glory and the complaints work their way to the top.”

Regardless, Holmes was on the whole “considered a really good guy” by faculty members, Warnken and others said.

Professor Steven J. Shapiro thought Holmes was good at balancing the varying aspects of the job.

“There are lots of people who want different things from you” as dean, Shapiro said. “He had a vision for UB and he tried to stick to that vision.”

‘Tradition of diversity’

Complicating the question of Holmes’ legacy is the fact that he was the University of Baltimore School of Law’s first black dean.

“People ask me, ‘Why is this happening?’ because people like Gil and are proud of the fact that we had an African-American dean and they’re disappointed he’s not going to remain,” said Robert T. Gonzales, an adjunct professor at the law school and a state delegate to the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates.

Especially with a dean of color, outsiders will scrutinize the situation harder and ask whether he was held to a higher standard, Gonzales said.

Associate Professor Audrey McFarlane said that, locally, the black legal community does not regard Holmes’ departure positively.

“I think you’ll see the focus and emphasis in the school will change,” she said. “The dean brings their perspective and insight. Gil brought perspectives both as a lawyer and as an African- American and that will change.”

Bogomolny, however, does not foresee any impact on diversity at UB.

“The record of diversity of this school is exemplary,” the school president said. “It’s the most diverse of the University System of Maryland schools.”

Nearly a third of the university’s undergraduates are minorities, he said. The law school is ranked as one of the top 10 nationally for diverse student bodies and one of the top schools for a diverse faculty.

“We have a school with a strong and long history, and people who know us know better and know we will continue in our tradition of diversity,” Bogomolny said.

His view is echoed by Butler, of the alumni society’s executive committee.

“I don’t think the minority students or community as a whole will suffer because Dean Holmes is leaving, only because the law school had already, prior to Dean Holmes, encouraged minority participation in different events, whether through enrollment or activities,” Butler said. “It’s always been a supporter.”

W.H. “Joe” Knight Jr., former dean of the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, expressed “great disappointment” and “sadness” that a colleague was stepping down.

Knight was, like Holmes, one of a small group of black law deans. Like Holmes, he became dean in 2001. And, like Holmes, he is returning to tenured-faculty status. Knight stepped down as dean effective June 15, nearly a year after an ethics inquiry into his use of a school computer for outside business transactions.

Eyebrows are always raised whenever a colleague who seems to have been making positive changes to a school steps down, Knight said. As a fellow dean, however, Knight saw many reasons why the position is such a difficult one to maintain, whether because of poor financial support, difficult relationships with faculty or administration, or the mental strain of juggling so many constituents.

“The job of being dean of a law school is one of the most difficult positions one can hold anywhere – inside or outside of academia,” Knight said.

Patient

Holmes is not leaving academia just yet, as the terms of his deanship guarantee him a tenured teaching position. But he’s unsure of where life will take him.

For now, he’s planning a yearlong sabbatical in which he’ll work on increasing diversity in universities, actively participate in the men’s ministry at Celebration Church in Columbia, and travel on a mission’s trip to Haiti. He may also become involved in the American Bar Association’s international rule of law initiative.

He does plan to actively seek other leadership opportunities in academia, which may take him out of Maryland, he said.

“I’m excited about learning what’s next for me,” Holmes said. “And I’m patient about learning what’s next.”

(c) 2007 The Daily Record (Baltimore). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.