News Scrapbook 1986-1988

S n Diego, CA (S n Diego Co.) Evening Trlbun (Cir. D. 123,092)

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*Kranz Continued From Page 1

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Cf 5S- Friends and admirers say he will have his pick of job offers after his sabbatical next year, including the chance to stay on at USD as a tenured law professor and teach in bis specialty area, criminal law. Kranz is noncommittal about his plans, but already a former San Diego colleague, Mike Navin, now dean of Die inson Law School in Carlisle, Pa., has offered him a visiting professorship. "He's an amazingly good teacher. If I could only get him here for a year," Navin said of the tousled-hair, youthful-looking man some students call "Boy Dean." By today's tandards for law school deans, Kranz has survived the withering pressures that accompany tlie JO about twice as long as most of his contemporaries. "The average service of a dean is slightly over three years.'' said Richard Huber, a Boston College law profes- sor and president-elect of the Association of American Law Schools. The problem stems from the difficulty of leading a group of professionals who describe themselves as basi- cally ungovernable prima donnas. "These are people who love to talk, are never chal- lenged, wish to score points and like to show off," said University of San Diego law professor Robert Fellmeth, a strong Kranz supporter. Kranz has his critics, but ironically the complaint most often heard i.s that he is "too nice a guy" or that he lets his sympatlues - either for students or for a cause - interfere with the cold objectivity required of an execu• live. "It's the old problem of a Jimmy Carter vs. a Lyndon Johnson," said Fellmeth, director of USD's Center for Public Interest Law. "Who do you want? Someone with questionable policies who's a real S.0.B? Or do you want a Jimmy Carter who is not as effective in implementing policy because he's too nice a guy, too humane'" One area in which faculty members say a Jack of leadership hurt the school involved not moving ahead on desperately needed curriculum reform. Kranz agrees. drY urriculum reform sounds, the content of law school courses has a direct bearing on how well students do on the California Statt-Bar e •jnation. Among Cali- fornia's 16 American Bar A 1ation-accredited law schools, USO ranks about in the middle m the pass rate. much to the disappointment of faculty, administrators and students. "If I had to replay the last six or seven years, I would have allocated more time to pushing reforms internally. I did operate on the idea of wanting to reach a con- sensus," said Kranz, seated in his More Hall office domi- nated by a Ben Shahn poster that says: "You have not converted a man because you have silenced him." Kranz continued, "Today, I would be more aggressive, though there are others who would say I pushed too hard." But Sister Sally Furay, university provost and a Kranz admirer, dismissed the idea that he should have conduct- ed faculty meetings in a more authoritarian fashion. "I hear some say he should have been more autocratic, and others say that would have been a disaster," said Furay, adding that Kranz has "more than lived up to the expectations" of the dean-search committee which lured him to San Diego from Boston in 1980 after a national search to replace Donald Weckstein, now a tenured law professor. Nearly everyone agrees that Kranz improved the fac- ulty by a number of excellent hires, including tax law specialist Karla Simon, international law expert Maimon Schwarzschild and Christopher Wonnell, a proponent of free-market "law and economics," a conservative cost- benefit approach to the law. To the dismay of second- and third-year students who grumble about no parking spaces and a crowded library, this year's entering class of 403, an increase of 55 over last year, is the largest in the history of the law school, a fact that Kranz attributed to the school's growing nation- al reputation since it was founded in 1954. Employers also have discovered USO. The number of on-campus recruiters interested in third-year students has quadrupled since 1981. Kranz does not take credit for all those changes, saying that be built on strong foundations laid down by his predecessors in the 1970s. But one legacy that is distinct- ly his own is the San Diego Law Center, set up in 1980 with money from the San Diego County Bar Association. Physically, the center consists of four cramped rooms in a building next to the Jaw school. Spiritually, it is a kmd of legal nursery where Kranz and his attorney wife, Carol Rogoff Hallstrom, nurture progressive ideas. Two projects germinated at the center and successful- ly transplanted downtown are the Community Mediation

Program and the San Diego Volunteer Law Project. In the past year the center has concentrated on immigra- tion reform. Kranz tirelessly preaches that lawyers have a greater responsibility to society than going to work for large law firms and earning huge salaries. Instead of rushing into court as adversaries, he says, attorneys shoulo spend time in their offices getting to know their clients and working out alternative solution to litigation. A law student's leaden diet of property and tax law must be leavened with courses in ethics and human val- u , he says. And in the end, Kranz suggests, the lawyer will suffer by ignoring the human side of legal tangles. "There is a lack-of-gratification problem emerging after 15 years of hedonism. Something is missing in the practice. We're beginning to see a new indication of stu- dent interest in public service," said Kranz, whose 23- year-old son, Stuart, a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, spent last summer working in Boston for Massachu. etts Gov. Michael Dukakis' campaign Though interviews with students uggest that most still seek the high salaries and prestige of corporate practices if f no other reason than to pay off ma ive debts, Kranz says he detects a new wave of idealism on the law schooi campus. He concedes it might be wishful thinking on his part. With an idealism undiminished by the pa sage of 21/z decades, Kranz is part of the generation of young attor- neys inspired by John F. Kennedy's vision of a New Fro11her. In 1962, fresh out of the University of Nebraska law school, Kranz went to Miami to work as a trial attorney in the organized-crime and racketeering section of the U.S. Justice Department. That launched a lifelong interest in criminal justice, corrections and prisoners' rights. Anationally recogmzed expert, Kranz wrote a textbook on corrections and pris• oners' rights widely used in law school classrooms. n the late 1970s, while a law professor at Boston Uni- versi y, the crusading Kranz honed in on his own profes• sion. ''Students were frustrated by the end of their second and third year of learning doctrine at a superficial level," Kranz said. "There was no progression. School was nar- rowing, not broadening. When they entered. they were excited and full of ideas. By the end, all the ideas were put in little boxes." Those years were also a personal watershed. Divorced from his first wife, Kranz found himself alone for the first time in his adult life, unable to meet people and miserable. One perceptive law student who noticed was Hallstrom, separated and struggling through law school with a small child. Their views were complementary. Her politics had been forged in the early 1960s working with a civil rights group, the Student Non-Violent Coordi- nating Committee, in the South. Today they live in Mission Hills with Hallstrom's high school-age son, Christo. Kranz remains very close to his three children, Shari, Stuart, and Stefanie, from his first marriage. While Hallstrom and Kranz share similar views, their public personae are as different as night and day. Kranz keeps partisan politics out of the office. In his oxford shirts, conservative silk ties and horn-rimmed glasses, he uts a conservative figure on a campus distin- guished by the number of sun-bleached students who wear surfer shorts to class. Hallstrom agrees she is the more outspoken of the two. Hanging in her office is a large photograph of Ronald Reagan with a red slash mark through the middle. "Maybe that's because I'm from Brooklyn and he's from Nebraska," she cracked. But Kranz's commitment to social reform has left an indelible stamp on his administration, according to col- leagues and students. Faculty members say, not always approvingly, that he bends over backward to be fair to students. Some would have liked him to take a harder line at times. That characteristic compassion for the underdog, how- ever, is admired by many students, including Erick So- lares, p{esident of La Raza Law Students Association, who said Kranz helped the Hispanic student organization obtain many of its goals. "He's a very complex, interesting person," said formt. law professor Navin. ·'He's a funny combination of a dogmatie liberal and a thoughtful lawyer. Personally, he's one f the best people I ever met."

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D parting la dean: an intense 'nice guy'

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-~----.--------, San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 123,092) NOV 25 198t

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He's ready to dive in to a~tion (JSD 's Pelton has some big shoes to fi'J] at center

team two years ago Pelton fmst et down mKan s fol- lowing graduation from Palo Verdes lhgh m 1983, f1gurmg to Knight saJs he '.i; sorry - D-8 make regular Fmal Four appearanc- es with th Jayhawks. But Pellon soon learn d he wouldn't be playmg m th Fmal Four or with the Jay- hawks for that matter An an le mJury prevented Pelton from playing a a fr man, so he red h1rt d He was healthy the fol- lowing eason but his playing time wasn t T at' becau e he wa play- mg behind a fellow named Danny anning, he \ 1zard of Ahs.' "He (Kansas coach Larry Brown)

told me Danny s going to be here for four year and he's going to be play- ing,'' said Pelton. "They said I would be playing a reserve role at the most because he can e m at my po 1t10n. ·I still thought about staying But there for bout a month of games it didn't matter 1f we got blown out or we were ting omebody by 30, I still wasn t getting into the gam s It kind of struck home that I wasn't going to get to play, and I didn't ·ant to sit on the bench for four years "PlJs, was way out in Ka ns ." Pelton clicked his heels three tunes and wasn't in Kansas anymore He made arrangements to tran fer to USD and arrived at Alcala Park between semesters during the 1984- 85 school year Pelton' problems multiplied with Pleu~e see TOREROS: D-4, C-01. 1

lurnt for Jim

•Toreros~..:.._-~-=-----~-----=-==-----__;~~..;;.;;,;:;;:;;;;;;;;__________~----- r un1,n11,,,J frum /~] f th orero . how ver He discovered that h w s comp ting with not on but three players - center Scott Thompson and forward. Nil. Mad- dl'n and • teve Krallman - for court tim Gue s who bid d hi. tim ndmg the pme "Unfortunately, 1t didn't work out as well as I predicted " Said USO coach Hank Egan: "He came here and played the same posi- tion behind kids that were experi- enc d with thi school and my sys- ble until late in the season because of his transfer), scoring 30 points in 29 mmutes. He played in 12 games last season, scoring 33 points m 79 min- utes. I'm hoping to see in a long time," he said. "It's kind of a scary feeling. I feel like I've been out of basketball. I've been practicing and doing that, but I don't have game experience. "I haven't really been in the spot- light. It's going to be ~bvious now if I screw up. Ifs not just going to be in a practice situation." son. However, he's prepared to fend off questions comparing him with Thompson, who was the WCAC's Most Valuable Player last season. "I've been trying to put Scott be- hind me," he said. "I don't want to try to live up to him. I just want to try to play like I am able to. There's no way I'm expecting to fill Scott's shoes. year. It's not really like that this year. It's a little less structured and allows for a little more creativity from the other guys. I'm not a prolif- ic scorer. Scott was expected to score, but my role is going to be a lot more rebounding and getting it out to the guys on the break. That's not to say I'm not going to shoot the ball." Egan isn't expecting Thompson- like things out of Pelton either, say- Plea.se ~ee TOREROS: 11} ol. 1 t m and one another He ended up not getting a whole lot of playmg ex- p('ritnce. It' one of tho~e things in lif that happens." Pelton played m just even games h1 · sophomore year (h wasn't eligi- Now, Pelton's counting the min- utes before his first start since high school. He will be USD's starling cen- ter when the Toreros open the 1987- 88 season Friday night in Houston against Rice. ''I haven't seen playing time like There's a question as to liow well Pelton will perform against power forwards and taller centers this sea- "It seemed like we based a lot of the offense around the center last

''I wa thmkmg lher ' three guy I can fit in weJI with and we can get a good rotation gomg," said Pelton. •Torero

preseason conditioning. . Coady, a business major who at- tended Anaheim Servite High, is con- tinuing his education at USO. • The Toreros signed four players to national letters of intent during the NCAA's Nov. 11-18 fall signing period. Anthony Thomas, a 6-3 sophomore guard at Mesa (Ariz.) College, signed after averaging eight points and five rebounds for Mesa's 30-6 team last

season. Mesa has been a recruiting hotbed for the Toreros, who discov- ered forwards Manor, who started for USO last season, and Pete Mur- phy, a starter on the 1985-86 team, at the school. Alan Lewis, a 6-8 forward at Fullerton High, Carlos Carrillo, a 6-6 forward at Rosemead Bosco Tech, and Kelvin Woods, a 6-5 swingman at Pomona Damian High, are the other signees. /

players are closmg the gap." Means is the on!y returning starter from last season's 24-6 NCAA Tour- nament team. He started all 30 games along with Thompson, Ma~ den, Mark Manor and Paul Leonard. • Freshman guard Bob Coady is no longer with the team. Coady redshirted last season after undergo- ing open heart surgery. He had sur- gery for a deviated septum earlier this year, putting him behind in

pretty exhilarating." • • • OTES - Egan said his starters for Friday's opener will be Pelton at center, senior Marty Munn and jun- ior Mike Haupt at forward and jumor Danny Means and sophomore Craig Cottrell at guard. "They've been in the program and loyalty is a two-way street," said Egan. "But it's not theirs ensured and they can be beaten out. The new

that 1t has arrived. he's hoping to hine "It' been a battle getting through the pa t couple of years," said Pel- ton. "It' been sort of a survival test." Jim Pelton i a urvivor. So if things don't work out this season, don't expect him to go Jump off a chff. Jump out of an airplane, maybe. "I'll probably pick up sky-diving again after the season," he said "It's