‘Mr. Lincoln would be proud’ of Dean Peter Alexander

Peter Alexander’s remarks were short after he received the Illinois Bar Foundation’s Award for Distinguished Service to Law and Society on Dec. 12 (see page 6). The introduction of the retiring dean of the Southern Illinois University School of Law was longer, but colorfully concise. No less was expected of Rockford attorney Thomas Johnson, whose articulate paean follows.

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Those whom the gods would humble, they first make deans of law schools. And Peter Alexander is suitably humbled – perhaps even a bit bloodied – but he still stands tall and most assuredly unbowed.

He is one of the gatekeepers of our profession: One of those extraordinary men and women who run our nation’s law schools, in whose hands we are willing to entrust our future, confident that the future of our profession is in good hands.

That the lawyers of tomorrow will learn not only the black letter law but other lessons as well: lessons relating to the ethics and heritage of our profession, lessons relating to our responsibilities to the court and to the public, lessons relating to how we treat each other as colleagues.

Lessons which Peter Alexander has taught with uncommon effectiveness by precept and example.

After serving for 11 years on the law faculty at Penn State, where he also was associate dean, Peter was appointed dean of the Southern Illinois University School of Law, where he has been an influence for good, ever since.

He is no stranger to the campus at Carbondale, of course, having served as student government president during his undergraduate years, and it is a fair summary of history to say that he has helped shape – and was himself shaped by – that remarkable institution.

Peter has made his leadership of the School of Law a mission to legal education everywhere, particularly as a tireless advocate for efforts across the nation to enhance diversity within our law schools and the ranks of the legal profession – a profession in which minorities constitute less than 10 percent of our membership.

He has ennobled our profession and enriched our lives, and as his tenure draws to a close, all of us in the Bar of Illinois prepare to bid him an affectionate farewell.

Several years ago, Peter received a gubernatorial appointment as a general trustee of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, and his fellow trustees promptly elected him as an officer and Regent of the Academy – the non-partisan organization that confers the Order of Lincoln, our state’s highest honor, upon distinguished Illinoisans each year.

As a proud son of the Land of Lincoln, Peter’s career and accomplishments attest that he, too, has been touched by what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.”

And as we prepare to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the most revered lawyer in the history of our state and our nation, we pay tribute this morning to another devoted servant of the law for all he has done to reaffirm the principle:

That here in the Land of Lincoln, well-trained women and men will attain admission and bring honor to our ancient and honorable profession, regardless of the color of their skin, or the sex they were born to, or the vowels in their name, or a disability of birth, or the language in which their grandfather prayed.

Mr. Lincoln would be proud.