Stetson honors William Proctor and Amy Gajda at National Conference on Law and Higher Education

Stetson University’s annual National Conference on Law and Higher Education celebrates 38 years in February, honoring two leaders in higher education.

This year’s conference honors William Proctor, Ph.D. with the Facilitator Award, created for educators who embody the values and principles articulated in The Rights and Responsibilities of the Modern University. Professor Amy Gajda will receive the William A. Kaplin Award, named for Professor William A. Kaplin to recognize scholars who have published works on education law embracing the intersection of law and policy.

Wiliam Proctor.

Wiliam Proctor.

Proctor, who attended Stetson University, was president of Flagler College for 30 years, where he serves as chancellor, and served as a member of the State Board of Education and Florida House of Representatives. He served on the Fifth Appellate District Nominating Commission and on the Seventh Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, was chair of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida and a Rotary District Governor, served 12 years as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, and for two terms as a member of the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Amy Gajda.

Amy Gajda.

Gajda is an internationally recognized expert in media law, privacy law and higher education law and the author of several books including The First Amendment Bubble: How Privacy and Paparazzi Threaten a Free Press and The Trials of Academe, and co-author of Mass Media Law and The Law and Higher Education. She has published invited opinion pieces in the New York TimesSlate, the New York Daily News and other publications. Gajda frequently comments on media law, privacy and press rights in print and broadcast media around the world. She practiced law before she began a teaching career in both the law school and journalism school at the University of Illinois. She has chaired the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Defamation and Privacy and its Section on Mass Communication, and led the Law and Policy Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

This year’s national conference, themed on “Accountability and Regulation of American Colleges and Universities in Times of Legal, Social and Political Upheaval,” takes place Feb. 9-13, at the Hilton in Orlando, Florida. To learn more, visit https://www.stetson.edu/law/conferences/highered/home/. Watch a video introduction from conference chair Professor of Law Peter Lake, director of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy.