Professor Halper had a remarkable career, even compared to her many distinguished peers at Washington and Lee University School of Law. Upon graduating from law school at Rutgers University and receiving an LLM at NYU, Professor Halper embarked upon a career dedicated to serving the public good at such institutions as the American Civil LIberties Union. Professor Halper's devotion to the public interest continued into her later career as a law professor as well.
Upon entering legal academia, Professor Halper demonstrated the unique intellectual prowess for which she is known among her students and colleagues. In addition to serving as a law professor at Washington and Lee, she traveled to and held positions with other academic institutions in both the United States and abroad. Professor Halper was so respected among her peers that she was eventually chosen to lead the Lewis Law Center, which is the research and faculty support component of Washington and Lee's Law School.
I came to know Professor Halper as a scholar through my experiences in her Property and Jurisprudence courses, as well as through my observations of her work as head of the Law Center. In the latter role, Professor Halper worked tirelessly to expose the Law School to areas of legal scholarship not previously explored at Washington and Lee. She helped organize a wonderful symposium about gender issues in Islamic countries. The role of women in the Middle East is seldom discussed at Washington and Lee but is a matter of greater concern as the United States and American legal thought increasingly influence and are influenced by events in the Middle East. Professor Halper's recognition or the importance of these issues and her efforts to bring them to the attention of the community speak highly of her passion and intellectual commitment.
Of special significance to myself and other LGBTI students at Washington and Lee was the symposium that Professor Halper and the Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice sponsored, entitled "A Queer Definition of Equality." The symposium was the first of its kind at the Law School because it dealt with sexual orientation and the law in a scholarly context. I can remember Professor Halper describing the planned symposium to me a t a barbecue in the Fall. Her excitement regarding the event was rare and infectious, even though it was six months away. It was one of the few times I have seen a grown woman over 60 visibly display a fervor normally reserved for a 16 year old school girl talking about her favorite boy band. As LGBTI students, we have faced immense challenges at Washington and Lee. Professor Halper cared deeply about LGBT issues, and her work obn the symposium revealed her abiding faith in humankind's ability to achieve a more perfect understanding and accommodation of each other through intellectual study and discourse. She is a tremendous loss to the Law Center. Whomever is chosen to succeed her in that leadership role will be simply unable to match the strength of Professor Halper's convictions or her willingness to put diversity issues at the forefront of our community's scholarship.
I also experienced Professor Halper's impressive intellect firsthand in the classroom. Professor Halper was one of the most engaging teachers in the Law School. She constantly elicited students' opinions about the day's reading or even about current legal issues surrounding property law. She also displayed a great desire to connect to her students and engage their minds. In fact, so great was her enthusiasm that she preferred to sit on the desk at the front of the classroom, rather than lecture from behind the podium, just so that she could be closer to the students. In Jurisprudence, our roundtable discussion of law, legal history, and philosophy demonstrated Professor Halper's unique insight into the law. Every student's opinion was heard and valued, an yet Professor Halper could always come up with an idea or argument that put all of ours to shame.
Just this Spring, I entered Professor Halper's office in the Powell Suite to receive her comments on a draft of my Jurisprudence paper. I had written a paper arguing (based upon the theories of a German legal philosopher) that the law could focus on substantive policy goals again, as it had in the past, if certain regulations upon the media and the public sphere were allowed so as to enable a consensus policy created by the legislature to guide the law. I had claimed that this would break the law out of its pure reliance upon procedure. Professor Halper had read the paper and listened patiently to my argument. When I had finished, she said that it appeared to her that my proposal to regulate the public sphere to enable consensus policy-making was simply another version of process theory and not a substantive basis for the law. She elaborated a little further. I objected to her criticism, and a brief debate ensued. But in truth, as soon as Professor Halper had made her initial observation, I knew she was right, and though I pressed on in stubborn refusal to concede, she quickly buried me in the compounding illogic of my position. She was right, plain and simple, and it still showed the great gap between us in understanding and ability. I should also note that this episode revealed not only her intelligence, but also her willingness to challenge other people's assumptions, even if she was sympathetic towards their ideas. I suspect Professor Halper actually liked some of the ideas and arguments I was making. However, this did not stop her from pointing out the flaws in my theory. Professor Halper had not just great intellect, but also intellectual honesty.
In addition to my experience with Professor Halper as a teacher and scholar, I came to know her well as the faculty advisor for Outlaw. I had the pleasure of working with her for two years as our faculty advisor. While it would have been easy for her to remain aloof and simply allow student officers to run the organization without her input, Professor Halper never took the easy approach; she maintained an active interest in the work of the organization despite her many other responsibilities. She would ask about our event schedule and the life of our community, and she would offer helpful suggestions about how to get speakers, how to get funding, and even how to persuade more people to get involved with the organization. Professor Halper was ceaselessly honest and candid, which is why I would always turn to her for advice whenever a problem or a crisis arose. Her advice proved invaluable to me, particularly in my efforts to secure funding and co-sponsorships for the organization's programs and in our attempts to promote Outlaw's policy agenda to the University administration. Much of what the organization has accomplished would either have been impossible or significantly diminished without Professor Halper's support. In addition, Professor Halper was a tireless advocate on our behalf, willing to stick her neck out for us when others would not. Our professors and administrators are fine people with significant personal principles, but few, if any, have consistently backed up their principles with action in the way that Professor Halper has. Professor Halper's willingness to fight for the LGNTI community is perhaps her most missed characteristic now that she is gone.
In closing, I wish to comment upon Professor Halper as a person. Professor Halper made every effort to remain informed of and provide encouragement with regard to her students' lives. She often asked about a student's job hunt or their stress level in Washington and Lee's rigorous academic environment. Professor Halper was principled and willing to fight for what she believed in, but she was also invariably courteous and kind to all people, even those with whom she disagreed. This same kindness drove her to display a special caring for the lives of her students.At the start of each of the past two academic years, Professor Halper attended Outlaw's Queer-b-que. It is an event we hold every Fall to welcome our new members and new students generally. Although we have traditionally invited any faculty members who wish to attend, Professor Halper was the only law faculty member who would come each year. Being the lone faculty member at the event never bothered her. She was happy to be there and was never aloof from the students. She would ask each new student their name and a little bit about them, and she would sit with us like any other student, eating and drinking and talking into the night. Professor Halper acted in a way that made it clear that, while she was a professor and we were students, we were nonetheless all colleagues.
And so, to Professor Louise Halper, our teacher, mentor, colleague, advisor, and friend, I offer my thanks for her life and service, and I wish to express my sympathy and condolences to her family. Rest in peace, Professor Halper.
