1970s Class Notes

Rennard Strickland ’65 S.J.D. ’71, a pioneer in the movement for Native rights and a legal historian, died Jan. 5. He was 80.

Born in Muskogee, Okla., Strickland was of Osage and Cherokee heritage. In a career that spanned teaching and leading numerous law schools, he served as dean of four: the University of Tulsa, Southern Illinois University, Oklahoma City University and the University of Oregon. He was most recently senior scholar in residence at the University of Oklahoma Law Center, where he helped introduce Indian Law into the University’s legal curriculum. The author, editor or co-editor of 47 books and 208 essays, book chapters and articles, he was frequently cited by courts and scholars for his work as revision editor-in-chief of “Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law,” considered the authoritative text on the subject.

“Rennard — a legal historian, institutional leader, teacher and arts patron — was himself a historic figure in the movement for the recognition of Native rights, a movement that informed virtually his entire professional life,” said Professor Lindsay G. Robertson ’86, the Chickasaw Nation Endowed Chair in Native American Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Robertson succeeded Strickland in his founding role as faculty director of the Center for the Study of American Indian Law and Policy at the school.

Strickland was the first and only person to have served as both the president of the Association of American Law Schools and as the chair of the Law School Admissions Council. He was honored by both the Society of American Law Teachers with their annual teaching award and the American Bar Association’s “Spirit of Excellence” Award, and was a member of the American Law Institute. In 2012, he received the Robert Kutakes’ Award, presented by the American Bar Association in recognition of his substantial contributions to legal education and the active practice of law. 

In 1992, he was appointed chair of the Osage Constitutional Commission by U.S. Judge James O. Ellison of the Northern District of Oklahoma. Strickland was involved in the resolution of a number of significant Indian cases, including testifying on behalf of the Muskogee Nation and against the state of Oklahoma in the case that established the rights of American Indian tribes to engage in gaming.

At UVA, Strickland competed in the Jessup International Moot Court finals with his classmate Joseph Fleming ’65, with the pair finishing second in the final round. Strickland was named “Best Oralist” and Virginia’s team captured the award for best brief. His moot court career came on the heels of a prolific debating career in high school, and in college at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. He also held an M.A. from the University of Arkansas and honorary doctorates from Valparaiso University, Northeastern State University and Bacone College.

Strickland told the University of Oklahoma’s Sooner Magazine that his favorite law professor said he should go into legal education to change the way it was taught.

“Legal education has changed since then,” Strickland said in the interview. When he began teaching law, “women and minorities were told to write about ‘mainstream law,’ not about minorities or women or even social and cultural issues. That non-traditional scholarship, we were told, was for ‘after tenure.’ I decided I didn’t care to have my academic menu selected by others.”

In 2004, Strickland spoke at UVA Law on the Native American struggle, an event sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race and Law and the Student Legal Forum. 

Strickland also was a philanthropist in the arts, and donated art collections to institutions in Oklahoma and Arizona.

—Mary Wood