$2.15 million gift endows summer legal scholars

A new gift of $2.15 million will sustain the future of the summer legal scholars program.

A commitment of $2 million by the Foundation for Law, Justice, and Society of Oxford, United Kingdom, endows the John W. Adams Summer Scholars Research Fund and through that the John W. Adams Summer Scholars Program in Socio-Legal Studies. Another $150,000 from the foundation will be used to fund the summer scholars program, distinguished by its interdisciplinary approach, through 2012.

The number of students in the program will eventually grow with annual income realized from the endowment. Four students participated in each of the program's first two years.

"The purpose of the grant to the Summer Scholars Program is to provide students and professors ... a greater appreciation of how law affects our lives," said Adams P'93. "Over the course of my professional career, and especially in the business world, I have been struck by a general lack of understanding by educated and bright people of the role law plays in our society."

Adams, of Summit, New Jersey, is a lawyer and was for twenty years the president of Smith Management Co., a New York-based investment firm. He is the chairman of the board of directors of the Foundation for Law, Justice, and Society, which is an independent organization affiliated with the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford and with Wolfson College. The mission of the foundation is to study and promote a better understanding of law in society.

President S. Georgia Nugent said the gift epitomizes how a donor's commitment creates learning opportunities for students. "Adams cares deeply about how the legal system shapes our society—and he seeks to create opportunities for young people to understand and explore this relationship between law and society," she said. "We are fortunate that he felt Kenyon would be an environment especially conducive to fostering this kind of study."

Nugent added that the generous commitment is all the more meaningful in a time of global financial turbulence.

The gift acknowledges the success of the summer legal scholars program, which was launched in 2007 as a three-year pilot program. Students have earned fellowships to work with faculty in a law-focused research project and follow that with a public presentation. Students and faculty who participate come from a variety of academic disciplines.

"This is not a pre-law program," Adams said. "It is intended to provide students and professors of all disciplines the opportunity to better appreciate the law in its social context."

Ric Sheffield, associate provost, oversees the legal scholars program and called the endowed program "an incredibly significant enhancement" of the College's ability to provide opportunities for sophisticated research. Sheffield added, "What better venue can there be for undergraduate students, unencumbered by the trappings of legal professionalism, to explore questions about justice, social control, and human rights?"

Naomi Blaushild '10 of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, spent last summer working with H. Abbie Erler, assistant professor of political science, on a project examining the use of clemency by modern U.S. presidents. Blaushild examined 1,150 acts of executive clemency. "To do research closely with a professor, it's just really a good experience," Blaushild said.

Legal scholars earn a stipend of $3,000 and on-campus summer housing.

"Kenyon College, an excellent liberal arts college with a proven track record for exploring different directions for education, seemed to be the perfect environment to pursue this program," Adams said.