Good Morning. During orientation week for our first year class, we featured a new session on “The Future of Cleveland.” Why? Because our future is tied to Cleveland’s future. While we are proud to attract students from throughout the world, many of our graduates choose to practice in Northeast Ohio, and every student benefits from our varied engaged learning opportunities in our community.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (C|M|Law ’83), County Executive Armond Budish, Jon Pinney, Managing Partner, Kohrman| Jackson| Krantz (C|M|LAW ‘2000), and Jennifer Coleman, Senior Program Officer for the Arts, The George Gund Foundation, spoke about the importance of C|M|Law developing lasting partnerships not only with the legal community but also with the civic, corporate, nonprofit, economic development, and public sector community.
Some of you have heard me talk about my father-in-law, the legendary West Side Cleveland City Councilman Michael J. Zone. Less than 90 days after he and Mary Zone (who served in Cleveland City Council after Mike died) were married in 1944, Mike was captured by the Germans in World War II’s Battle of the Bulge. Mike never talked about his experience, even to his own family, so everyone wondered how Mike survived as a prisoner of war (POW) when stronger, healthier, and younger men did not. One day we found the answer.
After Mike died, Mary pulled from her closet Mike Zone’s diary that he kept as a POW. He never showed it to his children (one of whom, Matt, has proudly followed in his parents’ footsteps as a Cleveland Councilman). It’s the most remarkable thing I’ve ever read. He told stories about the 9 children he and Mary would someday raise. Most revealing were the detailed pasta recipes from a man who loved to eat but had no idea how to cook.
How did Mike survive? He could see beyond the barbed wire and the cruelty of the guards and could see something that kept him alive. He could see his own future.
In fact, he could even taste it.
When I had the honor of serving as Ohio Attorney General, I met young men in prisons who could not see their future. Any future. For many of them, prison was a land beyond pain. For them, their zip code was their destiny- lost potential, lost productivity, lost hope. I’ve come to believe that the greatest gift you can give to a person, a city, or an institution like C|M|Law- is the ability to imagine, envision, and believe in your own future.
There is no shortage of theories about the secret sauce for city success. Some experts argue that geography matters more than ever and success depends on physical capital and authentic placemaking. Others submit that in a knowledge economy, cities, regions, and states must build human capital and creative talent. Some insist that social capital and economic opportunity ultimately define the soul of an economy. Still others predict that the future is about smart digital capital and harnessing the power of technology.
Each of these theories alone is wrong.
A successful city must have all of these elements, and the good news is that from Gordon Square to Public Square, Cleveland is creating compelling public places, charting pathways for economic opportunity and smart technology, and fostering creative and educated talent – including many of our talented graduates.
But a city must have something more or the sauce will fall flat. It must believe in itself. Like my father-in-law, Mike Zone, it must believe that despite the inevitable setbacks, fumbles, and failures it will face, there is a future to strive for and to believe in. I was reminded of this as I watched the CAVS victory parade from the steps of Cleveland City Hall on June 22. It was a sight I’ll never forget. We were one city. We were connected by a common pride and a common belief not just in our professional basketball team but also in our city.
The cities that are reinventing themselves are embracing their failures as lessons learned and are celebrating and investing in their distinctive assets. No more putting themselves down or feeling sorry for themselves. These cities understand that failures and successes are not moments, they are trajectories.
Our attitude will determine Cleveland’s altitude. To succeed, Believeland must be more than a slogan. It must be who we are. We all must step up and accept the challenge, and proudly call Cleveland our home no matter what victories and losses lie ahead.
I look forward to working together to take C|M|LAW to the next level of excellence, impact, and distinctiveness as a great public law school in a great city where we believe in ourselves. Our future depends on it.
Lee
Lee Fisher
Interim Dean and Visiting Professor of Law