Latino legal scholar remembered for advancing equity in education, law
A Latino legislation professor is remaining remembered for his seminal operate advancing civil education and learning and immigration legal rights, as nicely as pushing for far more diversity in the legal profession and in legislation colleges across the country.
Michael Olivas, who retired as the William B. Bates distinguished chair of law and director of the Institute for Bigger Education and learning Legislation and Governance at the University of Houston Legislation Centre, died on April 21 at the age of 71 pursuing complications from a blood clot.
Colleagues and legal scholars from around the country pointed to his trailblazing work and his legacy in advance of a funeral mass and memorial Saturday in his hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico — exactly where he returned immediately after his retirement.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who took place to be a near friend of Olivas, gave a eulogy Saturday.
“He individually touched so several life. Not just here, but all all around the globe, together with mine,” Grisham stated. “He was a deeply respected scholar, a devoted educator, an insightful mentor and, of program, a beloved husband and relatives member.”
Olivas left guiding a prolific physique of do the job preserved in award-winning guides and many posts. He was the receiver of prestigious awards, which include the Association of American Regulation School’s Triennial Award, the best honor a law professor can obtain, and the University of Houston’s Esther Farfel Award.
“As an individual who was the moment a younger Hispanic legislation college student, I am notably touched by stories of his devotion to the matters of youthful college students of coloration,” Lujan Grisham said. “What an remarkable position model he need to have been to master from and be motivated by.”
Houston legal professional and previous Hispanic Countrywide Bar Association president Benny Agosto reported Olivas “set an example that irrespective of your history, excellence in your operate is expected and required.”
“Professor Olivas was a correct hero for a whole lot of us, as he was for many several years the only Latino legislation professor in Houston,” Agosto claimed. “Others have come and long gone, but he was there as an institution.”
Apart from his scholarship, Olivas was warmly remembered as a mentor to students, professors and deans.
“So lots of folks in his area, they looked up to him for assistance,” mentioned Sandra Guerra Thompson, Newell H. Blakely professor of regulation at the College of Houston’s Legislation Centre and a colleague and friend of Olivas.
Guerra Thompson recalled how Olivas pushed law educational institutions to enhance their Latino faculty after likely by registries expecting to obtain Hispanic legislation professors but then viewing “there was just no person out there,” as Olivas had explained to Regulation.com in 2001.
Few Hispanic regulation professors ended up actively educating back again then, prompting Olivas, with the guidance of the Hispanic Nationwide Bar Affiliation, to start the annually “Filthy Dozen Listing” pointing out 12 legislation colleges all-around the U.S. that did not make use of a solitary Hispanic law professor.
Although he took some heat from the qualified universities, his efforts led to the considerable improvement and hiring of Hispanic regulation professors at the institutions, according to Thompson.
“We owe him for this correct. This was his eyesight and his exertion and him having the heat — that designed that possible,” Thompson said.
Olivas assisted advance and diversify institutions by reaching out to gifted lawyers and then schooling quite a few to come to be authorized counsel at universities or other entities.
Shaping plan
His work helped form state and nationwide insurance policies on many concerns, such as education and learning and immigration legal rights.
Olivas served numerous terms as a board member of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Instructional Fund (MALDEF). Thomas Saenz, the organization’s president and typical counsel, mentioned Olivas was pivotal in advancing concerns regarding immigrant youth, which include addressing issues Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients faced in obtaining larger instruction.
“His endeavours to gather and disseminate info and information and facts about how people issues had been currently being addressed nationwide were truly of incalculable gain to the broader nationwide local community,” Saenz said.
Saenz stated that state guidelines that arrived about from Olivas’ function ended up capable to be replicated nationally.
In his spare time, Olivas cultivated a passion for rock ‘n’ roll that inevitably grew into a radio present. After he retired from the University of Houston after practically four a long time, he turned acknowledged as the “rock ‘n’ roll law professor” and would examine lawful issues influencing the tunes industry on the airwaves of New Mexico’s Albuquerque Community Radio (KANW).
Saenz said the greatest way to honor Olivas is by making certain greater illustration of Latinos in the authorized profession — more professors, attorneys and also extra Latino judges.
His work, Saenz stated, “was about guaranteeing inclusion for the escalating Latino neighborhood in all features of American life.”
Nicole Acevedo
contributed.
