GGU Law Dean Rachel Van Cleave discusses how to best advocate for veterans attending law school

Van Cleave, Rachel A.

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Golden Gate University School of Law: Digital Commons

Golden Gate University School of LawGGU Law Digital CommonsPublications Faculty Scholarship6-3-2014Empathetic Advocacy - law schools and ourveteransRachel A. Van CleaveGolden Gate University School of Law, rvancleave@ggu.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/pubsPart of the Legal Education CommonsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Publications by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact jfischer@ggu.edu.Recommended CitationVan Cleave, Rachel A., "Empathetic Advocacy - law schools and our veterans" (2014). Publications. Paper 630.http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/pubs/630SAN FRANCISCO ~aily dfourrull TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 2014 PERSPECTIVE -----------------Empathetic advocacy: law schools and our veterans On Sept 12. 2012, I was driv-ing borne from my early morning swim, processing my lhougbts for my day ahead when I heani a snippet of news on NPR about my law school classmate and friend. Chris Stevens. The story was so disturlring I was convinced I had mislteani. By the time I pulled into lhe driveway I reolin.>d that it was true -my friend. Ambassador Chris Stevens, had been killed in .Beng-hazi. lt was like a punch to the gut. After not having seen Cbri~ in many years. l saw hi11 name and picture ev-erywhere in the days and weeks that followed. Three other Americans hod also been killed and as I read more about Chris and '!Yrone Woods, Glen Doherty and Sean Smith, about their li'Y\."S and their families, it all became heartbreakingly real. How war and confli~-t nl:T~-t the lms of soldiers. lheir families and our communities became even clearer when l met low student veterans at Chris' memorial held ot our Jaw school ulma mater. At the reception after the memo-rial. I beard one law student veteran say to Wlolher. "We need to talk; people here (in low school) don't get us:• SurprWng even myself, 1 offered my help. The student asked. "What do you have in mind. dean?" 1 was iu my ~-cond month as inter-im dean. I had no idea what I bad in mind; l would not presume to know. However, it disturbed me that stu-dents who had chosen to serve our country felt misunderstood or not appreciated. On reflection, 1 believe that the lessons I learned from my friendship with Chris compelled me to work to bridge tbis chasm. I decid-ed to ask and li!rten. acknowledgiug: lhat allhougb I om a dean, l needed to lenm from the law student veter-ans. I am learning that lhese students have a per!>-pcctive 01.1 our detn04.."11lt-ic principles and values, and !here-fore on Jaw school, that comes from their appreciation of what it tokes to secure ond defend these value<>. This perspective, if gi\-en space and respect can greutly enrich the Jaw school experience for all students os well os faculty. In addition, nar-rowing Ibis gop in understanding has the power to dramatically imp.u:t lbc liV~:s of V~:ter.ms who can benefit from legal services that law schools and law students con provide, by en-coumging all law students to work to support veterans. In the weeks and months that fol-lowed, I met with vetemn law stu-dents and others in the veterons' com-mumty, gulhered lheir thO\Igbtful and con!>tructivc ideas, and worked with my law school fuculty and staff to implement most of them. Ql' collabo-mted wilh other school<~ and outside groups to move them forward. One key collaboration is the Law Student Veterans' Coalition (LSVC) of Norlhem C.alifomio, which sup-port.<: the professional development of and col1abomtion among its stu-dent members - from Golden Gate University School of Law, Pacific McGeorge School of Law, Stanford Law School. UC Davis School of Law, UC Hastings College of the Law, and University of San Fran-cisco School of Law - to assist the vetemns community. Another is an annual Veterans Law Confer-ence. Hosted by GGU Law and the LSVC, lhe inaugural conference. held in Poll 2013, focused on veter-ans' needs in tbe community as well as career counseling for law student veteraus. GGU's Yellow Ribbon .Program now provides 100 percent tuition for qualifying veteran students. A Vet-erans BenefillJ Extemabip course at GGU allows law students to serve velenUl.'> den ling with benefits issues, and this fall GGU Law will proud-ly laullCb its Veu,"rans Legal Advo-c.u:y Center to work with l>1Udents and others in the legal community to expand legal services for yeter-ans. These efforts were conceived, implemented and have so fur been successful because of the guidauce and input we received from these remnrkable students and other ad-vocates. But wbat drove my imtial desire to be involved directly and dedicate the time and resources necessacy to make a difference may be of even greater importance: em-pathy. Upon Chris' death, I found myself profoundly connected with the challenges veterans f.u:e upon return to the civ.Uian world, because I sought to learn about these expe-riences. So when 1 read Phil Klay·~ recent piece in lhe Wall Street Journal, "Duty and Pity'' (May 24-25, 2014), I bad to ask myself hani questions. Klay spoke of people expressing pity for him and other veterans based on narrow, essentialist assumptioM about veterans lhat come from iden-tifying a group relying on a single story one hears or experience one has. Since reading his piece, I have reflected on my role, ruul that of my low school as vetemns' advocates. For me, Klny's piece clarified the danger, and the art, of advocacy. In order to be effective, advocacy must include the totality of experi-ences. voices and community needs as lk--fincd by the community itself. fu olher words, effective advocacy requires profound empathy. Such empothy necessarily eschews essen-tialist thinking. David Brooks recently published on op-ed in the New York Ttmes ti-tled "Stairway to Wisdom" (May 16, 2014). In it, be explores the central-ity of empathy in acquiring Wl in-depth understanding of a social issue or problem. Brooks define." empathy os the true understanding of anolh-er that is .u:hieved through intim.u:y and premises such wiW.om. on the Augustinian belief that only through se11less love can one truly under-stand Wlotber person. Wb.ile know-ing lhe dire 11tatistics about the rote of post-traumatic stress disurder. suicide, bome1essness, and the back-log of benefit applications, is in'itru-mental for guidiug meaningful ac-tion. attaining funding, and tracking success in addressing an J:;,:;ue, such knowledge does not form the sub-stance of lasting commitment and social chonge. Such powerful advo-cacy. commiunent and cbWlge come from meaningful. ongoing connec-tion \\-ith the stories of others. In my case this connection was elicited by o very peri>ODalloss - lhe death of my friend. However, such con-nection with veterans may also be evoked by reading stories like those shared by Klay m ''Redeployment" or that in Nicholas Kristors New York. limes op-ed. "A Loyal Soldier Doesn't Deserve This" (Apnl 13, 2014), or Damon Armeni's person-al essay. "A Soldier Fights Off the Cold" (NYT, May 11, 2014), stories wlucb depict a rich variety of experi-ences. emotions. triumphs and strug-gles of those wbo have served. My awareness of and connet.'tion with veterans that my friend':. death has led me to bas fueled my deter-mination and resolve to support vet-erans. Chris's life work os ambas-sador was about building bridg\."S of understanding and empathy between diverse people and cultures. Since 99 percent of us do not have mili-tary experience, it is imperative lhot we strive to understand our \'eterans through lhe cultivation of deep en~p~~­thy. Th that end, it is crucial that we become more aware of and appre-ciate better lhat there L~ uo singulur, essential veteran experience. Indeed, the cum."'lt tunnoil at lhe Deportment of Veterans Affairs must give us all pause and time to rellect on lhe col-lective action and empathy needed to support oil vetemns. especially those most in immediate need. Only with Ibis opprouch can we hope to meet Klay's challenge to show our utmosl respect for those who hove sened. Rachel Van Cleave u dean (If Goldetl Gare Ulli-ve rsity Sdwol of lAw. Reprl ntcd wlth pnmili$lon fmm the Dally /O#t'IUII . .:'12014 D-.aily JournAl Corp<>nltion. All righu ~ R¢prlntcd by Reprlnll'm• 949-702·5.' 90 

Empathetic Advocacy - law schools and our veterans

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Empathetic Advocacy - law schools and our veterans

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