A $6 million gift from Bob and Colleen Haas will establish the Thelton E. Henderson ’62 Chair in Civil Rights Law at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.
Henderson was an assistant dean at Berkeley Law when he met Colleen Haas, a Stanford University Law School student with an interest in civil rights. He was pushing to diversify Stanford’s student body and Haas — a scholarship student working at a San Francisco civil rights firm — identified with his values.
“We just connected,” Haas said. “I had an appreciation of what Thelton had done in his life to that point, and obviously he could see where my interests were. That became the basis of a very close friendship.”
She added that Henderson is a model of the best a person could be and his life is a tribute to this country.
Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky agrees.
“Thelton Henderson is truly a hero,” Chemerinsky said. “He is a role model for all of us in how he has used law — as a civil rights lawyer and as a judge — to advance justice. He is truly one of the most decent people I have ever met. I am thrilled that as long as there is UC Berkeley Law, there will be the Henderson Chair in Civil Rights.”
The gift creates an untenured faculty position to teach civil rights law. One of the stipulations is that the professor who holds the chair will give the law school classes they teach a biography of Henderson to keep his story, and what he stands for, alive.
“To have an endowed chair of civil rights at one of the best law schools in the country — and the world — is huge for me,” Henderson said. “I’m almost wordless.”
During his 37 years on the bench, Henderson presided over rulings on prison reform, sexual harassment, affirmative action, LGBTQ+ rights and environmental protections. He joined the California Hall of Fame last year, which honors individuals who have made significant contributions to California and the world through their achievements in public service, arts, science, sports and civil rights.
“UC Berkeley Law has long been associated with civil rights law and has produced many great civil rights lawyers. But to have a chair dedicated to civil rights law and honoring a lawyer and judge who has been a civil rights icon since the 1960s, is thrilling,” said Professor David Oppenheimer, director of the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law.
