A Tale of Two Law Schools

On the august occasion of the 100th anniversary of the University of Arkansas School of Law, this Essay celebrates one of its singular achievements: the decision of then-Dean Robert Leflar to admit Silas Herbert Hunt, the first African American allowed to enroll for graduate or professional studies at any all-white university in the former Confederacy since reconstruction. The bravery of both Leflar and Hunt has been correctly celebrated in the past, but this Essay seeks to highlight why it was actually braver than one might think (for both Hunt and Leflar) by comparing the actions of Arkansas Law with the shameful and illegal actions of the University of Tennessee College of Law (an institution that I love enough to hold responsible for its past). My colleague Briana Rosenbaum has aptly described the University of Tennessee’s approach to desegregation as “[d]eflect, [d]elay, [and] [d]eny.”