Like Skippy-san, a fellow Citadel alumnus, I received the following in an email last night:
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Retiring Citadel faculty to be recognized April 17
Five members of The Citadel faculty will retire this academic year and will be recognized during the annual Faculty Recognition Luncheon April 17.
Retiring faculty members, their departments and years of service are as follows:
Laurence W. Moreland, Ph.D., professor of Political Science
1964 – 2008 |
Every major on campus had its one course that was the traffic cop course — it determined if you were going to make it or not in that major. For some it was in their junior year, others it was their senior year . For pre-med, for example, it was Organic Chemistry; Civil Engineering, it was Soils; History, it was History of England and each was taught by one professor and had been (it seemed) for all eternity. Other courses you could finagle the schedule and get someone else or if you were really desperate, try summer session. But these courses – no dice. You had to pass muster with the boss. For Political Science majors (ed. of which your humble scribe was one – What, you’re surprised you say? You wear your sarcasm well we would note...), Professor Larry Moreland’s Constitutional Law was that course, no getting around it. And for a conservative military college in the heart of the South, in the bastion of the most conservative part of the South, the home and seat of all that is considered tradition and sacred — indeed in a city that is called by its residents the Holy City (ed. that would be Charleston, SC for all you Yankees), to have a course in American Constitutional Law taught by a professor who was known throughout the Corps of Cadets as "Liberal Larry"? Well…
In typical Scribe manner we so very much looked forward to our senior year and our Constitutional Law course because of that…and we were not disappointed.
In that kind of environment it is all too easy to fall into teaching orthodoxy. Prof. Moreland did anything but. With competing pressures from elsewhere on campus (*cough* Toolshed *cough*) as well as from other faculty the temptations are ripe to go easy with cadets whose natural inclinations by that point are to find the path of least resistance to reach graduation (and anyone who says otherwise is smoking massive quantities of Jamaican). Prof. Moreland’s classes were anything but the path of least resistance beginning with the infamous weekly quizzes and their notorious "Any, none or all" questions. A massive weekly reading load of case work set the stage for engaging, nuanced and thoughtful discussion in class. It was at once aerobics and weightlifting for the mind; a class that forced you to look at problems from differing viewpoints and perspectives and in essence, set the stage for much of the operational analyses that YHS has engaged in over the years since.
And the "Liberal" moniker? Defintely not orthodox – but not exactly Berkley either, his intellect was far too disciplined for those environs. One supposes if one held to a particular viewpoint that was decidedly on the Right, then the Liberal motif was forthcoming – but standby, one could not be a mere "ditto head" and survive in that class. Positions were called upon to be expounded and defended in civil manner, each was given their say with none of the beating down suffered in this day and age by unpopular thought and voice. Perhaps too it was the mustache and hair that pressed the boundaries of the college regs for faculty – but no fiercer advocate for cadets could be found among the faculty and the liberal tag was one applied more with fondness than the sneer it seems to garner today. And as Skippy will attest to, back then, most anyone who dared dip their toe out of the mainstream garnered the liberal tag – why even YHS was considered something of a radical (!)
So it is with a certain degree of sadness that we note this transition milestone and wish Prof. Moreland fair winds and following seas as he heads off to retirement. We hope he knows that cadet who sat in the Constitutional Law class some 30 (!?!) years ago remains inspired to this day and that this blog, in part, is fueled by that inspiration.
And professor — we still have our Constitutional Law texts and they are among the most worn in our library, having been used by a second generation that have pushed their way through school.
Stumble It!
Stumble it!
Professor Moreland was an inspiration from day one for me. As a Poly Sci major, I was required to take Intro to Political Science my first semester of my knob year. MAJ Moreland (as he was known then) was the most interesting professor. He brought humor and intellect to a class that was not the most interesting topic. His style captivated me so much that I made sure that I had at least one class from him per year. In some years, I had him for 2-3 classes at a time. I even took a new class, called “Civil Rights”, just because he was teaching it. I am proud to say that I also survived his Con Law class, with an A. He taught so very well.
The funniest story that I have about him was when I took his internship course: When it came to his Con Law course, I was very conservative in my opinions of Criminal Law. He never argued, but he did challenge my way of thinking on a regular basis. The following semester he got even with me for my constant challenges of the right way to apply the laws. I signed up to intern with the Charleston County Prosecutor’s Office, as I thought everyone belonged in jail or on death row. Somehow, LTC Moreland (he had been promoted) decided to put me at the Charleston County Public Defender’s Office. Not content with just sending me to this purgatory, he made sure that I was assigned to the Chief Public Defender as his personal intern. This guy ONLY handled the capital crimes cases, as I think he liked the publicity. I was forced to endure hours upon hours working with him on researching cases and formulating strategies for helping a confessed murderer of a wife and two children get off. If that wasn’t torture enough, I had to spend down time assisting the clerks with interviewing defendants to determine their eligibility for “indigent status”, which was a requirement for obtaining the services of a Public Defender. I ended up doing my thesis on that topic, which got me an A.
I will never forget being the Guard on Hagood Gate and watching Liberal Larry tooling through in his little MG Spider with the top down. He always had a smile and a wave.
My roommate, who was a History major, was so intrigued by my stories of Larry, that he decided to take one of his classes our senior year. That turned out to be a big mistake, as he took Con Law. He studied day and night and barely passed. He never got Larry’s humor and struggled to understand Larry’s tests (any, none, or all).
My major disappointment is that Larry is retiring just a few months before my son would have been able to take his Intro to Poly Sci course.
Thanks Larry for inspiring GENERATIONS!!! Your love of the law and your wit was certainly contagious, and I appreciate the influence you had on me.
Paul Tamburrino ’89
B.A. Political Science (Law and Criminal Justice)
What, no mention of magic mints?
Sounds like the prof here at ISU who used to work for NASA. Challenging and worthwhile, my kind of prof. Too often they’re either challenging with little actual value (hard for the sake of being hard) or a puff class that may have decent discussion but one from which no one learns anything of any real value.
As for being considered a “radical,” I can sympathize. Having severe libertarian leanings, I’ve gotten the reputation as one of “those” among my more Republican friends.
I had Liberal Larry my junior year…I liked his course I liked his style..it is definitly sad to hear him retiring but I like you wish him well…As a note he was at the Citadel for 44yrs is my understanding..truely an institution in an institution