Osler's Razor

I have been using Wednesdays here at the Razor to profile some of my classmates at Yale Law. It's been a project that has been profoundly humbling-- I really admire what so many of these friends have done.

This week we will meet Hiram Chodosh, a guy who was a standout even in the rarified atmosphere of Yale Law. I have a distinct memory of him in class, completely (and correctly) peeling apart an argument I had just made. He used facts. He's that kind of person-- a kind we need more of these days.

Hiram came to Yale Law from Wesleyan, a Connecticut school somewhere between the tiny and medium-sized (and also the alma mater of some of my favorite writers, including Jesse Wegman).  After law school, he practiced at Cleary Gottlieb, a big New York firm, and then started teaching at Case Western in Cleveland. He was there for 13 years, winning all the awards they had, and then in 2006 he was named the dean at the University of Utah's Law School.

At Utah, Hiram didn't just raise money and greet students. Along with teaching, he founded the Global Justice Project: Iraq with a $10m grant from the State Department. That kind of involvement in international development wasn't new to him; previously he had worked on projects in a dozen countries and fostered the development of mediation in India.

In 2013, he made a fascinating swerve and became the president of Claremont McKenna College, a prominent liberal arts college in California that peacefully co-exists with a diverse group of schools in a consortium that includes a women's college (Scripps) and a STEM-focused school (Harvey Mudd). There, Hiram has done what presidents are supposed to do: raise money (over $135m), start new initiatives, and inspire students.

I imagine that the students there love him-- both for what he has done for the school, and for the stories he has to tell. Both are important.