When Reda Taleb (McLean Class, 2015) talks about “giving back,” she isn’t just reciting a slogan — she’s living by example. The daughter of immigrants from Bint Jbeil, Lebanon, Taleb’s parents, along with her six older siblings, laid roots in Dearborn’s south end, an area known for its pollution-emitting factory smoke stacks and community of Arab Americans seeking the “American Dream.”
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#FromWhereIStand is an op-ed forum allowing a voice and stance for our Cooley community of family and friends. Law student Sarah E. Shirley (April 2020) writes about the requisite need for diversity in law school for a better world.
"Perceptions are powerful things. They shape our worldview. They energize us emotionally and move us to action. But they are not facts – they are the vehicles through which we perceive facts. Perceptions contain some truths, but rarely the entire truth." - Cooley Ethics Professor Victoria Vuletich
When Dinah Lynch applied to law schools, Cooley was her first choice. The decision was an easy one for her. She had looked at other schools in Michigan, but none offered classes that allowed her to work around her schedule. At Cooley, Lynch was able to start classes around 6:00 p.m., in their evening program, and keep her full-time job as well as all benefits. That was very important to her.
#FromWhereIStand is an op-ed forum allowing a voice and stance for our Cooley community of family and friends. James D. Robb, the law school's associate dean of external affairs and general counsel, is passionate about Cooley, its history and its mission. He also is not impressed by those with their own agendas who give uninformed criticism and offer unfounded opinions. Think about it. Why would someone criticize our School for the recent actions of a lawyer who graduated 27 years ago? Maybe this is more of the recent trend of incivility and bullying in the media and social media, in our case by people who know little about legal education and nothing about our fine Law School.
Rosemarie E. Aquilina, Ingham County, Michigan, Circuit Court Judge and adjunct Cooley professor, made news worldwide for her work presiding over the sentencing of disgraced former sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar. Yet, for those from the Lansing area, her reputation for outspoken advocacy was already solid. For Aquilina, giving those in her courtroom a voice was simply business as usual.
We live in turbulent times that often try our patience and make us wonder what could possibly be next. But under the choppy surface waters of daily life, good people are going about the business of making change — for the good. They ignore that which detracts from their mission while steadily moving toward their goals. Eaton County 56th Circuit Court Judge Janice Cunningham is one of those steadfast crusaders. Cunningham, a long-time Cooley adjunct professor, was the second judge to sentence disgraced sports medicine doctor Larry Nassar.
Going on a hunt for real treasure is something most of us will only ever do through a book or a movie. Then, with a wistful sigh, we will resume our day-to-day regime, sharing only a fraction of the pleasure that real hunters enjoy.
I passed through the turnstile and onto the mid-level concourse in Carver Arena, the home court for the basketball team of Bradley University, from which I’m happy to hold a bachelor’s degree. I had never before been to a Bradley game. Bradley was and is a school of around 5,000 students, so I’d expected to find maybe a few hundred people in the crowd. It took me some time, as I beheld my cavernous surroundings, to scrape my chin off the floor. Ten thousand strong rose to the rafters, and they produced a din, even before the opening tip, that was deafening.
