The Griffin returned to campus this semester without its most loyal reader: Robert Klump. The long-time director of the Raichle Pre-Law Center and adjunct political science professor’s contract was unceremoniously not renewed for the institution’s fiscal year beginning in June 2024.
The reason for Mr. Klump’s contract not being renewed remains unclear. What is clear, however, is Mr. Klump’s unwavering commitment and devotion not only to the university but every student he has taught or advised.
Klump has been a lifetime devotee to Canisius, attending for his undergraduate degree and returning to teach a mere five years later in 1984. A stalwart of the university’s political science department for forty years, Klump was committed to the department’s growth. During his time at Canisius, Klump facilitated the creation of the mock trial program, developed new courses and continuously altered curriculum in the face of modern constitutional developments.
While his macroscopic impacts on the institution are remarkable and deserve the utmost respect, The Griffin believes that the microscopic elements – i.e. biweekly courses – of Klump’s career speak to his true dedication. He brilliantly designed constitutional law lectures into logical and inevitably interesting narratives. Never believing that his teaching was so narrowly-tailored to constitutional law, Klump often took time before the start of class to impart wisdom on a wide range of topics, stretching anywhere from Abraham Lincoln to Emily Post’s standards of etiquette.
Annually, Klump brought students to Washington D.C. as the faculty advisor of Canisius’s chapter of Phi Alpha Delta – the professional law fraternity – even receiving an award for his commitments from the international organization. At the nation’s capital, he offered students the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit-in on Supreme Court oral arguments, tour the Federal Bureau of Investigation and meet with D.C.-based Canisius alumni. Locally, Klump would bring his students to courthouses around the area, an ideal networking opportunity with Buffalo lawyers.
Educating the future bearers of justice was not a position Klump took lightly. In an age where freedom of speech in large universities has been threatened, Klump championed diversity of opinion, forever abiding by former Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson’s eloquent statement in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943) that, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox.” Klump facilitated a safe space for debate in classes and special events alike, welcoming speakers on both sides of the political spectrum, from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to – most recently – Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Riley.
These testaments to Mr. Klump’s impeccable career and inalterable spirit are not merely the opinions of The Griffin, – whose current staff members have observed, at most, a tincture of his Canisius career – but a reflection of the university’s own estimation of his service. In March of 2009, Klump received the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Adjunct Teaching Award. The award was accompanied by a citation referring to his efforts as “exceptional,” and his courses, “crucial.” The Griffin is unable to provide a more adequate characterization.
Former managing editor of The Griffin and current J.D. Candidate at Harvard Law School, Patrick Healy, lauded Klump as “responsive” and “proactive” in his efforts for students. Healy stated, “Professor Klump is a life-long role model for the kind of lawyer I want to be – thoughtful, dedicated and generous to clients and colleagues, yet willing to challenge them to be the best they can be.”
The cliche of “once, always,” rings true for students of Robert Klump. Upon graduation, Klump never severs his ties with former students. Only changing his term of address to Mr. Bob, he continues to advise students’ law school journey years – even decades – after their undergraduate studies. Always engaging with the Desmond Law Society, the network of Canisius alumni lawyers, Klump supported students in their efforts to secure internships, research assistantships with faculty or shadowing opportunities with lawyers in their desired legal specialization.
The student-instructor relationship breathes life into Canisius’ unfeeling walls. As the load-bearing beam of a university, such relationships ought to be preserved. The Griffin laments that pre-law students – whose law school applications depend so heavily on letters of recommendations that Klump gratuitously provided – will be deprived of his seemingly infinite wisdom and guidance.
Though without legal tenure, The Griffin believes that Klump – in his four decade career at Canisius – amassed a social tenure that was undeservedly blighted, and regrets that he faced an Irish goodbye to the campus he has been a part of since he entered the double doors of Old Main as a first-year student in 1975.
-CL
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