HWS News
16 October 2024 • Faculty Guard and Jacobsen Discuss Changing Legal Landscape on College Campuses By Colin Spencer '19
Authors provide analysis of the rise of litigation in higher education.
During a discussion that explored the rise of lawsuits involving colleges and universities and the growing need for them to have in-house attorneys, Hobart and William Smith General Counsel Lou Guard ’07 and Professor of Economics and former HWS President Joyce Jacobsen were recently featured on the “EdUp Experience” podcast to discuss their book All the Campus Lawyers: Litigation, Regulation, and the New Era of Higher Education.
On the podcast, which explores the changing world of higher education with host Joe Sallustio, Guard and Jacobsen discussed topics from the book, including how the legal landscape in higher education has evolved over the past 15 years; key challenges facing college administrators in a new era of litigation and regulation; how institutions can balance compliance with their core educational mission; the role in-house counsel plays in navigating complex legal issues on campus; and how emerging technologies and societal changes are shaping legal considerations.
Guard and Jacobsen point to the rising costs and the commoditization of higher education as reasons behind increasing litigation against colleges and universities. With great expectations for tangible outcomes after earning a degree, institutions have turned to hiring in-house attorneys. The growing frequency of cyber-attacks and the enforcement of federal regulations by state agencies have contributed to the shift.
“We used to be a little more protected in academia and people actually thought we were doing the right thing," says Jacobsen. "That's not so much the case anymore."
All the Campus Lawyers was selected by The New Yorker as one of the best books of 2024 and was featured in the publication's article "Academic Freedom Under Fire." The book was also highlighted in the Chronicle of Higher Education in May.
Learn more and purchase the book here.
A cum laude graduate of Hobart and William Smith and Cornell Law School, Guard joined HWS in 2014. He provides legal advice and counsel across institutional areas, assists the president with major initiatives and projects, and is responsible for the strategic direction of legal affairs for HWS. Guard serves as Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trustees and is the primary governance adviser to the Board. He previously served as Chief of Staff to President Mark D. Gearan. A Geneva native, Guard is admitted to practice law in New York and Pennsylvania, and has worked at leading law firms in Philadelphia, Penn., and Rochester, N.Y. His work has appeared or been referenced in the Journal of College and University Law, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Trusteeship Magazine, The Harvard Crimson and other outlets. He is an active member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA). He has served as a panelist at Stetson Law School’s National Conference on Law and Higher Education, as a NACUA panel moderator, and as a consultant to the Association of Governing Boards on issues of collegiate mergers and acquisitions. He has taught and guest lectured on business law and higher education law topics at Hobart and William Smith and Boston College Law School, respectively, and is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell Law School.
Between 2019 and 2022, Jacobsen served as the President of Hobart and William Smith. Previously the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Wesleyan University, Jacobsen earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University and M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with her A.B. in economics as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 2021, Jacobsen was awarded the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award, which is given to an individual who has furthered the status of women in the economics profession through example, achievements and increasing understanding of how women can advance in the economics profession or mentoring others. She began her academic career teaching at Rhodes College and Wesleyan University where she was awarded an endowed chair as Andrews Professor of Economics and received the university’s prestigious Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching. She began her work as an administrator in 2013 when she was appointed Dean of Social Sciences and Director of Global Initiatives at Wesleyan, and then Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs in 2015. An expert on labor economics, particularly the economics of gender, she is the author of scores of journal articles and book chapters exploring sex segregation, migration and the effects of labor force intermittency on women’s earnings, among other topics, as well as the economics of wine and other collectibles. Her books include Advanced Introduction to Feminist Economics, The Economics of Gender, Queer Economics: A Reader (co-edited with Adam Zeller) and Labor Markets and Employment Relationships (with Gilbert L. Skillman). Jacobsen has been a member of the HWS Economics Department faculty since 2019.
Top: Hobart and William Smith General Counsel Lou Guard ’07 and Professor of Economics and former HWS President Joyce Jacobsen.
