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Credit: Nick Romanenko
Jonathan Alger
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Jonathan Alger became vice president and general counsel of Rutgers in January 2005. Before coming to Rutgers, Alger was assistant general counsel at the University of Michigan, where he played a key role in the university’s legal efforts in two landmark affirmative action cases, including management of the largest amicus brief effort in Supreme Court history. He has also taught courses on higher education law and intellectual property and information law. Focus associate editor Ashanti M. Alvarez sat down with Alger recently for a closer look at the general counsel’s office.
What are some of the legal priorities for the general counsel’s office?
One relatively new priority is in the real estate and development area. We’re doing a lot of building on all three of our campuses. The concept of how we interrelate with the surrounding community has changed significantly. It used to be that people had this perception of the university as an isolated ivory tower. Now I would describe it as “the engaged university,” a very different model where we are working with our communities for mutual benefit, for example, on mixed-use development projects that incorporate academic and community needs.
What are some of the issues pertaining to students that your office deals with regularly?
One major concern right now is mental health and dealing with depression and potentially suicidal students. Due to pressures related in part to a fast-changing, global economy and increasing competition, the stress on our students is great, and the university has to deal with that in various ways. It’s not just a legal issue, but there are significant legal parameters in terms of what we can and can’t do, how we can help students, and how and when we can inform other people that a student is having a difficult time.
Another interesting emerging issue is religious diversity. We are trying to come to grips with its implications, as are many large institutions around the country. As part of our educational mission, we are striving to create a tolerant environment where people can respect each other, listen to each other and learn from each other – understanding that in many cases, they have previously had little direct exposure to people of other religious backgrounds. Legal issues can arise with regard to the funding of student organizations, membership restrictions, limitations if any on events or speakers and free speech in this area in general.
Can you describe a typical day?
A lot of my time is spent counseling or advising behind the scenes, trying to spot potential issues before they become legal problems for the university. There is always some crisis in this office with which we’re dealing. Some are bigger than others, but
virtually every day things come in that you’re not anticipating. So you have to be willing to exercise judgment and help make well-reasoned decisions. You also have to be prepared to be a non-anxious presence and give people confidence that they are making good decisions. It’s always an amazing mix. You can go from dealing with a student issue one moment to a business contract the next moment to a tax issue to a discrimination case in the course of an hour.
There are two positions open for an associate general counsel and assistant general counsel. Are those to replace people or add to the current staff?
We are adding two new attorneys in the office. This growth in the legal office reflects a national trend at colleges and universities, because we are constantly faced with more regulation and more litigation in higher education. Universities across the country are increasing the size of their in-house legal staffs for the same reasons.
Is Rutgers currently involved in any major litigation?
Fortunately, we don’t have any one single overarching case at the moment. That could obviously change at any time. At a university this size, there are always some cases like discrimination complaints or whistleblower cases – often involving people who are unhappy because they didn’t get a promotion or tenure, or who were disciplined. Then you always have some tort claims – again, we own a lot of property, so you always have slip and falls, people who are injured on university property. Those are common. But there is no one extraordinary case at the moment, so we’re very fortunate in that regard.
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