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U-M law dean to argue affirmative action case,
get married, leave for Cornell.

ALAN ABRAMS
Special to the Jewish News

student at the law school of which he is now dean, Lehman
was editor in chief of the Michigan Law Review.

I

n the three months between April 1 and July 1,
Handy Experience
Jeffrey S. Lehman will argue the merits of the land-
Lehman served as law clerk to federal judge Frank M.
mark University of Michigan affirmative action case
before the U.S. Supreme Court, learn the decision of Coffin and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul
Stevens. That gave him a unique and useful insight into the
the justices, get married and become the first Jewish presi-
workings of the court.
dent of prestigious Cornell University.
"They'll hear the oral arguments on April
And you thought you were going to have an
1
and
decide the case by June 30," said
interesting spring!
Lehman
of the historic affirmative action
Lehman, 46, is dean of the University of
case.
The
Supreme Court is a very fast
Michigan Law School and professor of law
court. They like to clear their docket before
and public policy at U-M's Gerald R. Ford
they adjourn for the summer.
School of Public Policy. When he assumes
At issue in the case is whether U-M
the presidency at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., on
rejected
white students seeking admittance
July 1, he will become the latest in an ever-
to
the
law
school and undergraduate pro-
increasing number of Jewish major university
grams
because
of their race and in defer-
presidents. With Lehman's ascension, there
ence to minority students. The court is
are now almost enough to make a minyan.
reviewing the entire hot button issue of
"I will be the first Cornell alumni to become
race-based admissions in what is the largest
president, but also the fifth of Cornell's 11
such
challenge in history.
presidents to have a link to U. of M.,"
The
complex case was further complicated
Lehman said in a recent telephone interview.
by
the
involvement of President George W
Cornell's new first lady will be a Detroit
Bush.
Lehman
said he was surprised by Bush's
native. Lehman's fiancee, Kathy Okun, is asso-
actions, although they were widely anticipated.
Jeffrey Lehma n
ciate vice president of development at U-M.
"It is very unusual for a president to call
She is the daughter of Seymour Okun and the
a
press
conference and announce his posi-
late Faye Okun, who died in 1998. Her father
tion
on
a Supreme Court case," explained
lives in the Norma Jean and Edward Meer
Lehman,
who will be arguing the case for
Jewish Apartments in West Bloomfield.
the
university
because
of
his position at the law school.
Lehman and Okun will marry in June.
But Lehman has already had some useful experience in
Lehman's middle son, Jacob, one of his three children
preparing a case for the Supreme Court. While with the
from an earlier marriage, is a freshman at Cornell. He'll have
Washington law firm of Caplin & Drysdale, Lehman pre-
major campus bragging rights once his dad is president. His
pared an amicus curiae brief on behalf of 72 Nobel
older sister Rebecca is a graduate student at MIT, and
Laureates and 17 state academies of science in another
younger brother Benjamin is a seventh grader.
landmark case opposing a Louisiana statute requiring the
Lehman was born in Bronxville, N.Y. When he was 7,
teaching of creationism as an alternative to evolution-.
his family moved to the Washington, D.C., suburbs where
"Of all the people I worked with, Murray Gell-Mann,
his parents, Leonard and Imogene, still live. Now retired,
who discovered the quark, and the late [anti-creationist]
his father, a graduate of the Yeshiva in Flatbush, served as
Stephen J. Gould stand out in my mind, Although Gould
assistant U.S. commissioner of customs.
was
not a Nobel prize winner, I worked very closely with
Lehman attended school in Montgomery County, Md.,
him.
This was the largest joint statement ever made by
and was a member of the Brandeis AZA chapter #1519,
.Nobelists,"
Lehman said.
where he was Aleph Godol. The chapter's Web site recog-
The
Supreme
Court overturned the Louisiana statute, put-
nizes him as a distinguished alumnus. .
Majoring in mathematics, Lehman received his A.B. from ting Lehman in the winner's circle. That's something he
hopes will happen again this summer, given the widely
Cornell in 1977. He earned both his master's degree in
reported number of amicus curiae briefs filed by individuals
public policy from U-M's Institute of Public Policy Studies
and corporations agreeing with U-M's diversity policies.
and his J.D. from the U-M Law School in 1981. As a law

From the pages of the Jewish News
from this week 10, 20, 30, 40, 50
and 60 years ago.

M111111111111111111111111111111111

Philip Slomovitz, founder and
longtime editor of the Detroit
Jewish News, dies at 96.
The Jewish Heritage Ensemble
will present a variety show of
Jewish, American, Hebrew and
Russian songs, music and enter-
tainment at United Hebrew
Schools.

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

In response to the hunger crisis in
Detroit, Congregation B'nai David
has organized a Project Hunger
Fund, with $4,000 already raised.
Rabbi Sherman Wine will give a
lecture series on "Anti-Semitism —
A New Approach" at the
Birmingham Temple.

IOW
Detroiter Henrietta Rosenthal, one of
the Michigan's first women lawyers, is
saluted by the Detroit legal communi-
ty upon her retirement at 85.

As part of its month-long kashrut
observance campaign, the local branch
of Women of the Union of Orthodox
Sisterhoods sponsors a kosher food
exhibit day at Detroit grocery stores.

Detroit-based North End Clinic
and Sinai Hospital announces the
appointment of Marvin J. Lawrence
as director of North End Clinic.

WWWWWWWWOLIWWW/0
First Lt. Nathan Brooks of Detroit is
one of the seven American doctors
awarded Silver Stars for heroism in
caring for wounded Americans while
Japanese bombed their field hospital
near Buna, New Guinea.
Patriotic exercises will mark the
presentation of an American flag to
Congregation B'nai Moshe in
Detroit by the Ladies Auxiliary of
the Julius Rosenwald . Post American
Legion this week.
— Compiled by Holly Teasdle,
archivist, the Rabbi Leo M. Franklin
Archives of Temple Beth El

i.

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2/21
2003

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