South Texas College of Law, Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 5, November/December, 1984 Page: 1 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Annotations and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the South Texas College of Law.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
South
Texas
«College
of Law
Annotations
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Houston, Texas
Permit 8451
Volume XIII, Number 5
1303 San Jacinto, Houston, Texas 77001
November/December 1984
Trustees name interim dean
By Bill Yanger
Assistant Editor
"I'm approaching this job as if
I'm going to be here for 1,000
years," said newly named interim
Dean W.J. Williamson in a recent
interview.
Prof. Williamson was named to
the position Nov. 1 by the South
Prof. • W.J. Williamson was appointed In-
terim Dean of STCL by the Board of
Trustees.
Texas Colige of Law Board of
Trustees who cited his "highest
academic qualifications and broad
business and management experi-
ence" as evidence of his ability to
perform the duties of dean of
STCL.
Dean Garland R. Walker, who
presided over the administration of
STCL for 25 years, retired Oct. 26
due to failing health.
Dean Williamson, a 1937 gradu-
ate of the University of Texas Law
School, has been associated with
STCL longer than any professor
presently on the staff, with the ex-
ception of Prof. Spurgeon E. Bell.
| "I know South Texas' history
^ very well and want to preserve it,
* and build upon it," Dean William-
£ son said.
| Dean Williamson served as an
£ adjunct professor at STCL from
1941 - 1957. The Dean also was an
adjunct professor at the University
of Houston Law School from the
mid-1940s when the law school first
opened, and continued there as an
adjunct until 1955. From 1941-1972
he was an attorney and later an of-
ficer of the pipeline subsidiary of
Shell Oil Co. He joined the U of H
faculty as a tenured professor in
1972 and continued as such until
1977, when he moved to STCL.
In addition to being a legal
author and lecturer, the Dean was
the principal draftsman of the new
Texas Trust Code.
Though he will be assuming "full
authority" in the new position,
Dean Williamson will continue to
carry a normal teaching load.
"I'm going to teach exactly what
I had planned to teach; Oil and Gas
and Marital Property," he said.
The new Dean expects to play
some role in the selection process of
the permanent Dean.
The Board of Trustees will ap-
point a committee to conduct a
search, as required by the American
Bar Association rules, the Dean
said. The process is expected to take
a minimum of one year, and
possibly longer.
The new Dean said he will con-
tinue Dean Garland Walker's open
door policy, encouraging student
input.
"We need to support the
students and we need the support of
the students. It's a two-way street,"
he said. "That door's open for you
to tell me what's good or bad. This
I mean," he emphasized.
One area the Dean said he would
like to see improved is the college's
overall score on the Bar exam.
"I think we could improve our
record on the Bar if students avoid
taking too many soft courses for
too many hours," he said. Students
should "concentrate on the
demanding courses."
Walker's
colleagues
comment
By William L. Yanger
Assistant Editor
Dean Garland R. Walker
retired after 25 years as chief
administrator of South
Texas College of Law Oct.
26. Upon hearing the news
of his resignation, a number
of the Dean's friends and
colleagues as well as com-
munity leaders had the
following comments regard-
ing the Dean's accomplish-
ments at South Texas Col-
lege of Law:
Chief Justice Jack Pope,
Texas Supreme Court: "I've
known Garland Walker dur-
ing all of his 25 years at
South Texas College of Law.
See Walker page 13
Dean Treece goes to Washington
By Barbara Pusch
Editor
Assistant Dean T. Gerald Treece
went to Washington, D.C., last
month for the ultimate job as a
debate coach — to prepare the
President of the United States for a
nationally televised candidates'
debate.
Dean Treece is the varsity coach
for South Texas College of Law's
winning moot court and mock trial
teams.
The Dean received a telephone
call from a "prominent Harris
County Republican" following the
first nationally televised debate be-
tween President Ronald Reagan
and Democratic challenger Walter
Móndale and was asked "if I would
advise the president on the next
debate," said Dean Treece.
"I laughingly said, 'Sure', and
thought that would be the end of
it."
However, that was only the
beginning. That telephone call was
followed the next day by a call from
Jim Baker, presidential advisor,
who asked Dean Treece to send a
critique of the first debate to the
White House. "I did that and
dutifylly throught that was the end
of it," said Dean Treece.
Yet another telephone call fol-
lowed, again from the White
House, asking for further explana-
tion of STCL's varsity moot court
coach's comments.
And then another request came
from the White House, this time
for specific written recommenda-
tions on the style and techniques
the President should use in the sec-
ond debate.
On the Wednesday preceding the
final debate between presidential
candidates, Dean Treece found
himself on an airplane headed for
Washington, D.C.
He spent two days prior to the
Sunday debate working with presi-
See Treece page 13
Honor Code revision
fails by only one vote
STCL advocate Mike Martin (left) is presented the award for top oralis! at the Benton com/>etiiion in Chicago. III., hy
Jerrv Hoffan. director of the moot court program at Chicago's John Marshall Law School. See story on page II.
By Maria Rago
Staff Writer
Proposed Honor Code revisions,
which were submitted to the stu-
dent body for a vote Oct. 25 - 26,
failed by one vote, according to
unofficial reports.
The student ballot totalled 118
votes while the required quorum is
10 percent of the student body, or
119 votes.
The announcement came during
the Nov. 4 meeting of the Student
Bar Association.
Vicki Bailey, SBA secretary, said
she had counted the Honor Code
revision votes twice and each time
came up with only 118 votes.
The SBA members did not reach
a conclusion as to how to remedy
the situation.
However, Joe Luce, SBA presi-
dent, suggested reviewing the
ballots to determine whether those
students who voted favored or
disfavored the proposed Code revi-
sions.
At that point, the SBA could
then decide whether to conduct a
second ballot or to discard the pro-
posed revisions.
During the discussion, Morris
Weiss, Honor Court chief justice,
placed his hands over his ears.
In this edition. Annotations is in-
troducing a new column, which we
hope will become a regular feature.
We have titled the column "From the
Ivory Tower", in deference to our
venerable professors who will be
writing, directing and producing
material for the column. Professors
are welcome to submit material on a
topic of their choice. This month's
column explores the conflicts faced by
lawyers under the ethics code. See
page 4.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Pusch, Barbara E. South Texas College of Law, Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 5, November/December, 1984, newspaper, 1984; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144425/m1/1/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.