Most presidents of institutions of higher learning have already put their educational pursuits to bed, but that is not the case for the head of one of the state’s largest university systems.
University of Louisiana System President Jim Henderson is enrolled at the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge where he takes legal classes at night.
Henderson is already into his second year with the school’s program and is taking 11 credit hours this semester virtually.
“The ZOOM classes are a temporary offering as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “Even that format has allowed for deep connections with faculty and fellow students. Classes will be returning to in-person delivery soon, and I look forward the on-campus experience.”
Henderson added that the workload doesn’t take away from being the president of the nine-campus university system with more than 90,000 students.
“Balancing the after hours commitments has been challenging, to be sure, but law school is difficult in any circumstance,” he said. “Critical reading takes a considerable amount of time. While the flexibility of Southern’s program is helpful, there is no shortcut for mastering the material.”
Henderson takes classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights and a couple of hours on Saturdays and added that he had always been an advocate for the pursuit of justice.
“Practicing law is not the principle consideration,” he said. “This is a personal development pursuit, a furtherance of a lifelong learning philosophy. That said, I have long maintained an interest in the pursuit of justice. There is ample work to be done in that area."
Henderson hopes to complete his part-time law program in three or four years and added that experience has been fulfilling.
“Satisfied does not begin to capture the experience,” he said. “The Law Center is service-oriented making the process easy. The faculty are renowned legal minds who seem expert at drawing the absolute best out of their students. My classmates have embraced the old guy.”