On August 2, 2021, Fareed Nassor-Hayat (he/him) was named the Interim Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at CUNY Law.
On what drew you to this appointment:
There were several aspects that drew me to this appointment. I saw the opportunity to fill a void and to build on some of the groundwork laid last year, in terms of really addressing racial equity on campus. More importantly, I really believe that our students are amazing and can be challenged.
So many of our faculty push students to the next level and to have a person that is supportive of that in the Academic Affairs Office is important.
I think it’s truly an amazing opportunity to step into the role of Academic Dean at this moment in my career, because I know that I can make an immediate contribution, as someone engaged in the Law School on so many different levels, while still truly developing myself in the Academy.
On how your work on the appointments committee, admissions committee, moot court committee, trial advocacy team sponsorship, and faculty senate, in addition to professing, have shaped the function and form of the work ahead in your new role:
I’ve been blessed to have had such a diverse experience in serving on committees. I’ve served on the Hiring Committee and the Faculty Senate and, before that, the Scholarship Committee. I’m still on the Curriculum Committee and the Academic Standing Committee.
In my new role as the Interim Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, I report directly to the Dean of the Law School. As the chief academic officer of the Law School, I provide leadership in academic program planning, curriculum development, implementation, delivery, and evaluation of the academic program, including academic support and support for bar exam success.
I’m directly supervising bar and skill support. I work closely with the Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Programs to create an integrated, sequenced, coherent law school experience designed to meet the Law School’s chosen programmatic outcomes. I am responsible for the curriculum of all academic programs, including summer school, the Summer Law Institute, and Pre-Law orientation program. I am also responsible for faculty support, adjunct, and academic budgets.
I serve on a variety of appropriate Law School and system committees and groups such as Senior Leadership Group, Personnel and Budget, Academic Standing Committee, ex officio on Faculty Appointments and Curriculum Committees, Academic Affairs Council, Chief Academic Affairs Officers and other committees. In this new role, I’ll take on the voice of the Law School across CUNY’s many campuses and liaise monthly with the academic deans across schools.
My past committee experience informs this work. In terms of vision, in this age of the pandemic, there is so much hybrid learning material and technological advances to take advantage of, and my work on the Curriculum Committee has afforded me an inside look at how we can use that technology to move us into this new age of learning.
What you’re most excited for in the months ahead, and what you hope to work on and/or change:
The immediate goal is learning the job and keeping the ship afloat. I have so much to learn! Luckily, we have experienced experts like Ryan Dooley and Vicki Hickey, who’ve been here many, many years and know all the rules. I’m excited to learn from the Academic Affairs team and excited to build on and iterate on the foundations they worked hard to lay out. I think we should overload staff less with more realistic timelines and ensure the rules we administrate within are legitimate in efforts to foster a positive space.
We have an amazing formerly incarcerated student organization (FILSAA) here on campus, and given their many academic barriers, I’d like to support them and jailhouse lawyers more. I want to better assist students in their efforts to pass the bar by creating resources and providing more time to study, and to ensure those with the most barriers to access have access to our most effective resources. I’m hoping this is the highlight of our razor-sharp approach.
I do have a clear vision on how to get us to a place where we can build. So much work happens behind closed doors, and, if we get that work into the open, we can move it forward. If we can project at the start of their law school journey who is likely to have the greatest challenges, we can help them earlier. I want to ensure that when students finish their third year of law school, that they’re not only in a position to pass the bar, but that they also go on to become exceptional lawyers. If that isn’t happening, we’ll make adjustments until we get there.
What words of wisdom do you have for students in this coming year?
Well, number one — law school is supposed to be hard. We need to better center in-depth, extensive study time. Law school requires students to study 8-14 hours a day on average. There is no quick fix! Everyone here has been admitted because they are absolutely equipped. There is no question as to whether or not you’re capable — the question is how much work you’re going to do, in order to be able to excel to the best of your ability.
Relating that back to our campus climate, every faculty member here is truly a social justice warrior with credentials to back that assertion. They’ve been at the border fighting on front lines and fighting death penalty cases for the last 30 years. They’ve been public defenders and housing advocates, and they fight on behalf of the poor. None of our faculty are trying to figure out where they stand. They’re already out there fighting. If we could give this kind of deference to faculty members here, it will create a better environment on campus. One thing we’re working on with Student Affairs and Career Services is focusing not only on the present work of faculty, but also their social justice histories. We’d like students to really engage with their work, and note that much of what students are surfacing presently, like abolition, are topics our faculty have been covering for decades.
We should also acknowledge that everybody has their own vision on how to execute this most effectively. I may wholeheartedly disagree with a particular approach, but if we can at least have the respect to say okay, this person has the credentials and the receipts to prove that they’re truly about this work, and I still disagree with their approach, I have to ask myself how I can enlighten and/or compel them, or should I do my own thing? This is far more productive than demonizing one another. We need to be better about focusing on our similarities as opposed to our differences.
We have the most diverse faculty in this country standing in front of classrooms. That diversity includes-but goes beyond- race and gender towards political optics, social justice histories, first-generation vantages, and even the law schools where they study.
In short, work hard, recognize where you are and who are who you’re working with, and then work towards the fixes within that space.
On giving thanks:
I really just would like to thank the faculty here at CUNY Law for their open arms and support! I also want to thank the last graduating class that awarded me the opportunity to be their graduation speaker. The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) gave me enough confidence to recognize the special time this was for the Law School, and how I could immediately and directly contribute, so huge thanks to them too. I also want to thank the prior academic deans who spent hours with me talking about their experiences, and things they did that I may be able to move on. I look forward to not only keeping this afloat, but to take this work to the next level.