This petition has been passing around the law school. Please read it and consider signing it, by e-mailing Anelia Ray with your intention to sign:


Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis
Lawrence W. Inlow Hall
530 W. New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3225

April 25, 2005

Dear Dean Mead and the Promotion and Tenure Committee,

We urge you to consider giving tenure to Professor Bradford.

He is one of the best professors we’ve had in our combined law school career. He is very knowledgeable, highly approachable, and extremely inspirational.

We understand that he will not be teaching at our school in the fall, and we are the worse off for it. We know that many of the faculty members do not appreciate the idea of running a university as a business, however, even the term ‘the marketplace of ideas’ is indicative of the way that academia is being regarded. And, after all, we do pay for our education. The rankings, the caliber of teaching, and cost are all considerations we took into account when we decided to attend this school.

You also mentioned in your email to the student body that faculty resources are one of the variables that made a difference in our U.S. News and World Report rankings. We urge you not to let go of one of the best. He is, as listed on the school’s website, one of the fewer than fifteen tenure-track academic legal faculty members of Native American origins in the country. We are apprehensive that he will be long gone to another university that is more appreciative of his talents, experience, and extensive publications before this school offers him tenure.

You said our mission is to provide a high-quality legal education and to train future leaders throughout the state, the nation, and the world. Professor Bradford is one of the faculty members who will enable you to do that.

Please consider granting him tenure. The school and the entire student body will be the better for it.

Sincerely,

[the undersigned]


Update: Please see Professor Cooper's comment regarding the tenure process...