A History of the Hays Program, 1958-2008
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Description
This history is a tribute to the extraordinary work conducted over the last half century by the 272 law students who have been Fellows in the Arthur Garfield Hays Civil liberties Program at New York University School of Law, including its subsidiary, in the late 1960s, the project on social Welfare Law. This book consists of the Program’s founding documents and annual reports for each of its 50 years, starting with 19858-1959. The history also include a short biographical statement on Arthur Garfield Hays, an Overview to provide a general history of the Hays Program, and a Note on Methodology. With the encouragement of my colleagues, Sylvia Law and Helen Hershkoff, I began working on this history two years ago. I have known all but one of the 272 Hays Fellows, and I have worked with most of them. They are an outstanding group of men and women who are devoted to the public interest as any body of people I have known in the civil liberties movement or elsewhere. The Program has of course changed over the years because of the personalities of the Fellows, that nature of their assignments, and the addition of new Directors. In addition, there are trends in civil liberties that bring different issues to the forefront as society evolves, although I always keep in mind Roger Baldwin’s frequent warning that “no civil liberties victory ever stays won.” In addition, each Hays Fellow brings a different perspective to the Program, and each year there is a different chemistry within the group. It was through the Hays Program that I began my work with the ACLU and other organizations. Whatever I have done through these institutions, my devotion to the Hays Program is as strong as ever, and I count myself fortunate that I have had the opportunity to serve as a Director of the Program for almost half a century. There are some important features of the Hays Program that merit special mention. One is that the faculty Directors have done all the administrative work and supervision of Fellows without an executive director or other staff, except for a series of talented secretaries/assistants. Thus, close personal bonds were created between Norman (from 1961), Sylvia (from 1977), and Helen (from 2000) with each of the Hays Fellows. This has deepened the experience for all of us, on the professional and personal level. Another reason for the close relationships that have developed has been the small number of Fellows. There were as many as five Fellows in only two of the first twelve years of the Program, and never more than five. Since then the number has fluctuated between four and seven. Every Fellow gets to know the other Fellows in his or her years and the Directors very well. A side effect of this cap on the number of Fellows is that we regretfully must reject many applicants of the highest quality and civil liberties commitments. The situation became more complicated in the late 1970s, when the Hays Fellows began to do most of their work with public interest lawyers at their offices. The new arrangement provided the Fellows with much valuable insight gleaned from those who were working so to speak on the front lines, rather than directly with Norman, or later, Norman and Sylvia. In order to maintain strong personal relationships among Fellows and Directors, the Program made several moves. We instituted frequent seminars for which Fellows rotate in preparing a report on their current work for discussion by the group. We also invite a former Fellow to meet with current Fellows each semester to discuss their year as a Fellow and their subsequent careers, whether in public interest firms, government service, teaching or the private practice of law with its attendant opportunities for pro bono contributions. And we have brought the Fellows more centrally into the process of selecting new Fellows. We want to salute the early work by the Program’s first Directors, Professor Donald Wollett (1958-1959) and Professor Paul Oberst (1959-1960), and the more recent contribution of Professor Michael Wishnie, who served as a Director from 2002 to 2006, and who is now a professor at Yale Law School.
Publication Date
2008
Recommended Citation
Dorsen, Norman; Law, Sylvia A.; Hershkoff, Helen; Prisco, Gabrielle; and Sabbeth, Kathryn, "A History of the Hays Program, 1958-2008" (2008). Faculty Books & Edited Works. 390.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-books-edited-works/390
