Dr. Gene Straughan and His Professional Philosophy My overall philosophy has been to create a record of teaching experience, scholarly research, campus activity, and public service that makes me a valuable member of the institution. I have made a conscious effort to focus my energies on each one of these criteria for purposes of maximizing my contribution to the students, the academy, my colleagues, and the community. In the main, I have committed myself to teaching and researching questions about the value-laden aspects of law and criminal justice. My educational background is in the disciplines of political science, law, and criminal justice. It provides me with a social scientific understanding of the political, economic and cultural aspects of society, and especially within the context of the procedural and substantive dimensions of public policy. Underscoring my education is a keen interest in how and why the social scientific approach provides a more thorough sense of the complexities of society. To understand society is to learn not only the conditions that shape human life, but also the opportunities open to people for improving their human conditions. A knowledge of society and human behavior is as important as learning about mathematics, physics, biology, and so on. The benefits from understanding how to build automobiles, perform surgeries, or make computers are hollow unless people can be part of a society where they live happy, meaningful and satisfying lives. Albert Einstein echoed such sentiments when he observed that "politics is more difficult than physics and the world is more likely to die from bad politics than from bad physics." One of the more intriguing areas of social scientific study is the role of law and justice within society. According to social scientist Max Weber, laws are evolving norms that are directly enforced by legal coercion and punishment. Behavior deviating from such societal norms can draw criminal or civil sanctions imposed by the organized forces of government. Law may speak with the authority of the state, but its meaning and content are as malleable as the cultural, political, and economic forces of society. As such, the legal system is neither an altruistic nor an egotistic process but a human enterprise—one with moral spirit, selfishness, and dangerous arrogance. Indeed the human capacity for justice makes law possible, but the human inclination to injustice makes law necessary. A prime example is the struggle of the American legal system to reconcile the competing values of a pluralistic and democratic society. What was once a society dominated by white, Protestant, property-owning males has become more open to and respectful of others. Indeed questions about the appropriate role of the legal system are evolving ones. What societal values (order, morality, property, liberty, and equality) is the state supposed to protect? How is the state supposed to go about punishing violators? Other questions are equally compelling. What can be done to ameliorate the lingering effects of unequal treatment of women, minorities, and the poor? How can government control crime without sacrificing civil liberties? There are no easy answers to the conflicts the law is expected to resolve. My efforts to discover workable solutions to these problems would be hollow without a strong reliance on the social sciences. As Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, "the study of law should be introduced as part of a liberal education, to train and enrich the mind. I am convinced that, like history, political science, anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, and metaphysics—and perhaps even a greater degree than these—the law, could be advantageously studied with a view to the general development of the mind." Along the same vein of Brandeis, I believe that the law can serve as a prism to providing a more comprehensive understanding of the conditions of human behavior and society. My teaching experiences and philosophy underscore a strong passion for the social sciences as well. I have taught eighteen different substantive courses at Lewis-Clark State College, including ones in criminal justice, political science, and law. With the help of Dan Regan, I just created a new course entitled "Values: Law and Society." I take great pride in creating a climate that stimulates exploration, creative thinking, and critical reflection among all students, ranging from the very brightest to the most difficult to reach. I consider myself fortunate because I find what goes on within the classroom to have almost a spiritual quality. I hope my students find me invigorating and my classes stimulating. But equally important, I want to challenge the processes of their thinking and the conclusions they reach. The hope is that they will find my gentler, Socratic method of teaching to be challenging, engaging, provoking, and full of opportunities for self-exploration. I am fond of asking "if everything the professor says you already know and agree with, then of what value is higher education—why go to college?" My teaching philosophy consists of orchestrating an interdisciplinary paradigm that facilitates critical and creative thinking. This requires me to draw from a host of disciplines, including anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology. It is necessary for the climate to show how these fields contribute to a better sense of human behavior, government, public policy, and criminal justice. The students are also taught how to raise research questions, select proper methodologies, and then interpret their findings. It is equally important that, at appropriate times, I make my scholarly commitments (such as the principle of equal respect for the autonomy, diversity, and moral capacity of people) clear to students to avoid getting caught in the value-relativity trap, provided I do so without criticizing or indoctrinating them. Other more specific concerns of my teaching disciplines include: Criminal Justice: Recent surveys of criminal justice agencies suggest that graduates are often perceived as lacking conceptual skills and narrow in ideology. According to the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the programs focusing almost exclusively on criminal justice produce graduates "who lack the broader understanding of divergent cultures and social issues" of rising importance today. Law enforcement and correctional "agencies do not want the colleges and universities to teach police skills; rather, they have expectations for graduates who can integrate their job duties with a clear understanding of democratic values, tolerance, and integrity." The survey respondents further suggested that criminal justice programs need to focus more heavily on critical thinking and spend more time teaching about cultural diversity, human behavior, social control, individual rights, and ethics. Of course, the curriculum needs to provide opportunities to learn information relating to criminal justice. But teaching must emphasize an interdisciplinary study of deviance, law enforcement, adjudication, corrections, and how to critically evaluate the administration of justice. (American Criminal Justice Sciences Today, January 1989, Volume. 7). Closely related to teaching has been my commitment to creating alternative forums for student learning. One year ago, I developed an Internet course entitled "American National Government." It contains eighteen assignments with an array of interactive activities and over one hundred direct links to information relating to politics within the United States. I have also created a Justice Studies Web-page with opportunities to learn about government, law, crime, justice, and society. Each year I (along with the assistance of Richard Moore and Jerry Jolly) have taken students to attend academic conferences around the Northwest. The students have gone to the annual meetings of the Western and Pacific Criminal Justice and Pacific Northwest Political Science Associations. They have been able to meet, network, and learn from scholars about their cutting-edge research on crime, justice, government, and politics. A few students from LCSC have even presented their research papers at some of these conferences. Perhaps my most unique contribution has been the creation of a mock trial program where students are exposed to the theoretical and practical dimensions of law. LCSC joined the ranks of the American Mock Trial Association six years ago. Each year the AMTA develops a criminal or civil case for more than one hundred universities and colleges who compete against each other. The cases consist of a fact scenario, witness affidavits, judicial decisions, statutory law and rules of evidence. LCSC is one of only four institutions of higher education within the Northwest to offer undergraduates this hands-on opportunity to learn about the law. The program is not per se about creating more lawyers; the United States already has seventy percent of the world’s attorneys and is not experiencing a shortage. It is about the American legal process. Political Scientist Nancy Baker has explained the heuristic worth of the mock trial experience:
In a sense, the mock trial experience is a case study with the participants on the inside rather than on the outside. The students act and react as if they were genuine players of the legal system. At the core of mock trial is the development of research, creative thinking, and speaking skills. The students are responsible for working out a problem by developing, testing, and presenting a hypothesis within the context of their opening statements, direct examinations, cross examinations, and closing arguments. They learn how to critically analyze data, develop theories, present findings, and evaluate outcomes. Each case teaches them how to look through the lens of social science to discover empirical and normative solutions to everyday human conflicts. Overall, the program has been quite successful with over $50,000 being raised during the past six years for LCSC students to compete at the invitational, regional, and national levels. In addition to teaching, I have devoted much of my energy to scholarly research. My research interests focus on how public policy seeks to work out enduring conflicts within the United States between a dominant culture and various subcultures, probing the significance of the unwritten character of the law and calibrating the weight to be assigned to societal values. Each year, I have presented a paper at a criminal justice or political science conference. I recently published a journal article entitled "Religious Liberty for the Politically Powerful: The Changing Free Exercise Jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court." I just finished writing my doctoral dissertation and I have submitted a chapter to the Journal of Law and Religion. Much of my research shatters the theory that judicial decision-making consists of an objective process of relying on the text, intent, and precedent of constitutional provisions. It further shows the nature and extent to which extralegal factors (i.e., ideological attitudes) drive the judicial interpretation of the Constitution. For some people, this simply goes to prove that the "law is an ass," as Mr. Bumble put it in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist. But to me, the research demonstrates that the law is a relatively subtle instrument capable of reflecting diverse perspectives and competing principles of American democracy. At Lewis-Clark State College, I have been involved in a variety of activities. I am the faculty representative for the Harry Truman Scholarship and the pre-law advisor on campus. The University of Idaho and I have formed a liaison to encourage promising students (especially Native Americans) to visit the College of Law. For the last few years, I have served in the capacity of assistant to and then marshal of the graduation ceremony. I have also worked with Student Government to create a new Constitution and Policies for the students to operate under. My work on college committees has been diverse, ranging from policy revision (grade appeal and financial exigency) to peer review (tenure and promotion). I am currently on several committees, the Faculty Senate, and chairing the Faculty Affairs Committee. This year I am the Chair-elect and next year I will be the Chair of the Faculty. My primary goal is to work closely with the Provost and President to bring to fruition a permanent plan for maintaining salary equity and competitiveness. So far this has been a rewarding experience due to the feeling of being involved in a cause outside of myself—hopefully even Abraham Maslow would approve. Of course, the jury is still out. But I am convinced that some significant strides can be made along the lines of ameliorating the salary problem. The final area of my work has involved community and consulting service. Along with my colleague Ray Miller, I have evaluated the working environment of the Idaho Youth Ranch and Moscow Police Department. We recently took part in an assessment of the Business Watch Problem-Solving Partnership Grant, which was funded by the United States Department of Justice for the Moscow Police Department. For several years, I have served as a board member and instructor of the Youth Court Project for Nez Perce County. Ray Miller and I are currently putting together a series of police workshops on Interviewing, Interrogation, and the Law of Self-Incrimination. One of the more rewarding experiences has been my annual offering of a mock trial for sixth graders at Whitman Elementary School. The students not only learn about the legal system, but they also learn to think critically about issues of evidence, culpability, and punishment. This summer I plan on creating an internet database dealing with search and seizure cases, judicial decisions, and explanatory variables. My commitment to community service has been tailored around the idea that educators should go beyond merely preaching to the choir and share their knowledge with the general public. Hopefully my work reflects a strong contribution to teaching excellence, scholarly research, campus activity, and public service. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me. In closing, I want to thank my colleagues of the Social Sciences Division and across the campus for their invaluable support. Through their extension of unique opportunities and helping hands I have been able to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Sincerely yours, Gene Straughan, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Justice Studies, Social Sciences |
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