During his tenure as Dean, he actively promoted exchanges and cooperation between the Law School of the University of Michigan and famous law schools around the world, and attracted much attention for his innovations in public service, legal writing and international law. The Michigan Law Review, edited by him, won the henry bates Prize. Professor Raymond is also a leader in establishing urban community legal aid programs and promoting the development of university community services. No matter at home or abroad, he has actively provided advice to relevant governments and institutions, especially for China urban community legal aid.
Professor Raymond's achievements at the University of Michigan Law School have been recognized by the deans of other law schools in the United States and praised by his colleagues. A colleague commented: "During his nine years as Dean of the Law School of the University of Michigan, Raymond has made outstanding contributions to this outstanding law school. He is an outstanding scholar, and his research topics cover a wide range of areas where law and public policy intersect, from higher education funding to corporate tax to welfare reform. As an academic leader, his achievements are not outstanding. "
In 2003, Professor Raymond became the president of Cornell University. After learning of his appointment, people in higher education circles spoke highly of Cornell University's choice. Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, said: "Cornell University is so lucky to have a talented Raymond as its president, which is not only beneficial to Cornell University, but also a boon to the whole higher education community. Raymond is an outstanding academic leader. He sincerely believes that this university should become an organization that is integrated with society. "
During his tenure as President of Cornell University, Professor Raymond showed amazing courage and actively carried out various reforms, especially comprehensively promoted the internationalization process of Cornell University. Professor Raymond's interpretation of Cornell University tradition can be summarized as "Kangda of revolution, dear Kangda". It is revolutionary because it fundamentally changes Americans' understanding of higher education. Cornell University was founded in 1855. At that time, famous universities in the United States all had religious tendencies, only accepting boys, and generally only teaching classic subjects, such as mathematics, history, Greek and Latin. Kangda is not like this. From the beginning, it was ready to accept male and female students of all religions and provide them with all the subjects they were willing to study. This was a revolutionary concept at that time. Dear Kangda comes from the fact that most students will fall in love with it and remain loyal even after graduation. Kangda's tradition of running a school is so tacit with Professor Raymond's outlook on life and ideal of running a school that his reform in Kangda has received a lot of support.
There is a small example to illustrate Professor Raymond's great reform courage and outstanding management ability. Shortly after coming to Cornell University, he presided over the revision of the Kangda logo and printed it in a booklet made in Chinese. According to Bruce, vice president of Cornell University, it took only four months to modify the logo. "If it is in other places, it is impossible to have this speed," Bruce said. "You know, the little symbol Kangda has existed for nearly 140 years."
In an interview, Professor Raymond talked about many educational management concepts. He believes that the principal's work simply includes two aspects: "Externally, facing other universities, governments and the world, I am the representative of Kangda; Internally, people expect me to help the whole university, including all students, faculty and alumni, but their views on the university are not exactly the same. I want to help them build an understanding of our goals, history and future direction. "
Professor Raymond also put forward the idea of multinational universities. He believes that the word "university" already contains the meaning of "everything", which means everything. A good university should be a window to the world, including the world of knowledge, including the world of people, and there should be people from all walks of life, children of the rich, children of poor families, city dwellers, country people, Americans, China people and so on. University should be an eye-opening place for people to see the amazing richness and diversity of life.
Regarding the relationship between teaching and scientific research, Professor Raymond believes that every faculty member should devote himself to research and teaching. First of all, it is part of our mission to promote the development of knowledge in various disciplines, and every faculty member should participate; Secondly, in order to encourage students to participate extensively, professors must set an example. Why don't you need people who only do research? Because we are also committed to helping the next generation of leaders prepare, which means that we have the ability to show their research to students in an exciting way, stimulate their interest and creativity, and make contributions to society in our own way.
Compared with American higher education, Professor Raymond put forward good suggestions for China's higher education, and should keep the diversity of higher education institutions. In the United States, the diversity of educational institutions is very significant. Even the best university in America, Kangda is different from Harvard, Harvard is different from Stanford, and Stanford and Princeton are two different things. They are different and have their own characteristics, which is a good thing, because it gives students very different choices and they can find schools that meet their needs.
Mary Raymond is a staunch advocate of educational diversity.
Marisu Coleman, President of the University of Michigan, said: "During his tenure as Dean of the University of Michigan Law School, Raymond made an excellent and powerful defense in maintaining the school's admission policy to maintain diversity." This evaluation stems from Professor Raymond's involvement in a lawsuit that hit the Supreme Court of the United States, and from the six-year lawsuit triggered by the affirmative action act. He is one of the parties. The decision of the Supreme Court of the United States has made unprecedented progress in American educational ideas, and made him famous in American legal circles and even the whole society. In 2003, Professor Raymond was awarded the National Justice Award by the American Association for Colored People.
The ins and outs of the case are as follows: 1992, Professor Raymond drafted a policy report on the enrollment of the University of Michigan Law School. There are two core issues: one is the admission of the best students; Second, it reflects the diverse backgrounds of students, such as undergraduate majors, different countries and races, ethnic minorities and so on. Here, the consideration of Professor Raymond and the University of Michigan Law School is to reflect the pluralistic thinking of education and cultivate elites of all races and social classes. On the premise that students are excellent in all aspects, the admission of some minority students should be appropriately tilted. 1997, a white woman applied to the University of Michigan Law School and was not admitted. She filed a lawsuit on the grounds that the law school's enrollment policy violated the equal rights stipulated in the US Constitution.
In the two trials held in the federal court of the United States, the two sides were angry and arguing endlessly, and the two sides were in a stalemate. The enrollment policy of the University of Michigan Law School was challenged as never before, and the case finally reached the Supreme Court of the United States. In the judicial history of the United States, it is very unlikely that the appeal case against the judgment of the second instance will be accepted by the US Supreme Court. Usually, it will accept typical cases with great social controversy. This case is such a case. Even the current president of the United States has a negative attitude towards the enrollment policy of Michigan Law School, and Professor Raymond and his law school have to accept the challenge again. On the day when the Supreme Court of the United States announced the verdict, hundreds of thousands of Americans supported the University of Michigan and Professor Raymond and gathered at the seat of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Finally, the Supreme Court ruled that Michigan Law School won the case, and Professor Raymond's concept of educational diversity was authoritatively affirmed and supported, benefiting many minority students in a disadvantaged position. To this end, Professor Raymond devoted six years and a lot of effort.
In a later conversation, Professor Raymond said: This year, I want you to think about a problem. Based on the image of Kangda, what should we do in 2 1 century? I always think that one of them is that we must regard ourselves as a diversified university, a multinational university, and take it as our responsibility to serve people of different races, classes and countries. We should help students to establish a diversified and international perspective. They can't just look at things and problems from the perspective of one country. This is not to say that they should have a single view of globalization, because it sounds as if there is only one view, and I advocate eclecticism. I believe that there are some ideas that most people in the world agree with, such as that everyone wants love, freedom and happiness. But the expression of these ideas will change with different cultures and countries. Our students should have the opportunity to understand these ideas and their different expressions at the same time. This is the idea that I tried to promote in Kangda.
Enthusiastic promoters of educational and legal exchanges between China and the United States
Professor Raymond actively promotes the friendly cooperation between American universities and China University in legal research and higher education. In 2004, he personally led a delegation from Cornell University to visit China and participated in the "Peking University-Cornell University Day" in Beijing. Since then, he has established profound friendship with many universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University and Beijing Foreign Studies University.
On June 7, 2005, Professor Raymond was awarded an honorary doctorate by Peking University for his outstanding achievements in academic research and education management and his unremitting efforts to promote the exchanges between Chinese and American universities. Previously, honorary doctorates of Peking University were awarded only to presidents of several countries and presidents of a few world-renowned universities. Professor Raymond, who is modest and humorous, said that he is also an alumnus of Peking University now, and it is both a responsibility and an honor to strive to promote Sino-US exchanges.
Professor Raymond was also invited to be the first chairman of the Sino-US Joint Research Center on Law and Policy, which was jointly established by Peking University and Beijing Foreign Studies University at the initiative of Justice Kennedy of the US Supreme Court. During the preparation of the center, Peking University and Beijing Foreign Studies University are still thinking hard about who to hire as the first director of the center: he should be a well-educated famous jurist, a jurist who is enthusiastic about the exchange of laws and policies between China and the United States, and an open-minded legal educator. In the end, it is widely expected that Professor Raymond will be the first chairman.
We are in an era of globalization, and law and law education also show a trend of mutual reference and even integration. China and the United States are important countries in the world today. Although the political and economic systems of the two countries are different, and the legal traditions and systems are also very different, the general trend of world development requires the two countries to find more common topics in politics, economy, culture and law and carry out extensive and in-depth cooperation. With the development of society, the problems we face are more and more similar. We need a permanent organization with wider cooperation to strengthen contact and communication with each other. The appointment of Professor Raymond will greatly promote the development and prosperity of academic exchanges between China and the United States in the political and legal fields.
This time, in the golden autumn of October, Professor Raymond will come to Beijing again to participate in the sub-forum of "WTO Government and Enterprise" of Beijing Forum, get together with Chinese and foreign experts, and make further contributions to the Sino-US exchange he loves with the same enthusiasm and perseverance.
Young Raymond began to study French in high school when he was a student. He took French literature courses in college. In the summer vacation of his freshman year, he visited the new york Museum and was admiring his collection of French tapestries. At this time, a French tour group came and the tour guide was introducing these French tapestries in French. He tried to listen to the introduction of the French guide. Although he studied French at school for many years, he still didn't understand the tour guide's explanation. The experience of the museum made young Raymond realize that you can't really understand French culture without mastering French. Therefore, he made up his mind to study, live and travel in France.
This time, in the golden autumn of October, Professor Raymond will come to Beijing again to participate in the sub-forum of "WTO Government and Enterprise" of Beijing Forum, get together with Chinese and foreign experts, and make further contributions to the Sino-US exchange he loves with the same enthusiasm and perseverance. His masterpiece in primary school texts has successfully made many children move towards peace and non-racial discrimination!