"Build on the land grant heritage and help MSU be a safer place for everyone” WKAR 90.5 Public Radio, MSU Today Interview
Renee Knake was appointed to the Michigan State University Board of Trustees by Governor Whitmer in December 2019 to complete the term vacated by Nancy Schlichting. Knake currently serves as a professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center and as the Joanne and Larry Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics.
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What about some of your long-term goals?
“First, having the history of being a land grant institution, which from the time that President Abraham Lincoln signed the legislation into being to create a university like this, MSU was meant to expand educational opportunities very broadly. And that's something that you see today, both in terms of the diversity of who our student body is, but also, the wide range of things that one can study coming onto this campus.
“Another strength I see that relates to my long-term goals, is the incredible community of loyal alumni. No matter where I go in the world, and I've traveled the globe presenting my research as a scholar, everywhere I go, there is a connection to someone who has very strong ties to Michigan State. And at a time where many institutions of higher education are having to ask very difficult questions about budget and about pedagogy, do we put more courses online? Do we try to target different demographics or groups? How do we compete with the various pressures related to economics and technological change in the 21st century?
I see an institution like Michigan State really uniquely poised to address those challenges, both because of our historical legacy, and also, because of having such a wide sweeping alumni base that spans the globe. And so for me, a long-term goal for Michigan State would see this being a campus that will continue to grow and thrive as a community where students come here not just to develop a specialized expertise so that they could go on for their chosen career or occupation, but also, so that they come together and experience life with people they've never met before, different cultures, different backgrounds, and live together in a community preparing them to then go on to wherever they are next and not just have a professional expertise, but also, understand what it means to be a citizen, a member of a community filled with people that have all kinds of different views and all kinds of different perspectives on how we move forward.
“So, I want to see Michigan State be an institution that continues to grow in that way. And so, a long-term priority is certainly anything that furthers that. And one of the big things I think relates to the short-term priorities we already talked about, making this campus as safe and welcoming as possible.”
How has the law profession evolved and what kind of a legal profession are you sending students out into? What are their challenges and opportunities?
“One of the biggest challenges for legal education today is making sure that our students are prepared to deliver legal services in the way the public needs them. And so part of that has to do with affordability and legal services that the public can afford that also match what it costs to go to law school. I think it also has to do with education about what lawyers can do.
“One of the main reasons why individuals and individual households that face legal problems don't use lawyers is they don't actually recognize that they have a problem a lawyer could help solve. That's an information gap that I have studied, researched, and written about extensively. How can we make legal services more accessible, affordable, and widely adopted by the greater community?
“And then I think legal education is not immune to any of the other pressures that various professional schools are facing right now with respect to increased competition and the changes that we see in terms of technology in disrupting some of the legal jobs that some of us that might've graduated a few years ago held. For example, as a young associate, I did a lot of document review that involved boxes of documents and a warehouse and yellow legal pads. And that was very time consuming. And a lot of that can now be done through technology tools.
“Because those kinds of jobs have been disrupted, though, I don't think it in any way suggests that we don't have a need for lawyers. In fact, I think the need for someone who has a strong legal education, who understands the Constitution in this country, who understands the laws as they should be applied and how to reform them when needed, who understands how to go out and see an injustice and if there isn't a legal remedy, understands how to advocate for change. Those are all things that law students learn, and we need more people learning about those things. So, I'm very optimistic about the market for legal education.”
Knake says it’s an honor to server on the MSU Board of Trustees.
“I am so grateful to Gov. Whitmer for the opportunity because it gives me a chance to take on a role of volunteer service and give back to a community that I care about very deeply, in part, because it is where I got my start as an academic. Spending a decade at the law school here set me up for many other professional opportunities. I will always be indebted to Michigan State for that.
“MSU is a place where my children have grown up, and I want them to continue to think of this campus as their home and to see it thrive. It's not very often that one gets a chance to give back in such a tangible way to an institution that has given so much, both personally and professionally. I'm quite humbled and honored to be able to do that over the next few years.”