Gary R. Roberts is a former President of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and is also a former
Dean
Dean may refer to:
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* Dean (given name)
* Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin
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of the
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
The Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (IU McKinney) is located on the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana, the urban campus of Indiana University. In the summer of 2001 ...
and Gerald L. Bepko Professor of Law. Roberts earned his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree from
Bradley
Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English.
Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular.
It is also an Anglicisation of t ...
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
in 1970 and 1975 respectively.
Career
After completing his legal studies, Roberts clerked for Ben C. Duniway on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District ...
in San Francisco. In 1976, he entered private practice in Washington D.C. with the firm of
Covington & Burling
Covington & Burling LLP is an American multinational law firm. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the firm advises clients on transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters. In 2021, Vault.com ranked Covington & Burling as th ...
specializing in
sports law
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. In 1983, he became a faculty member at
Tulane Law School
Tulane University Law School is the law school of Tulane University. It is located on Tulane's Uptown campus in New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,Sports Lawyers Journal. He served as president of the association from 1995 through 1997.
As a practitioner of sports law, his clients have included major sports leagues and associations, teams, players, and coaches in the U.S. and England.
Roberts joined the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law as dean in July 2007.
In October 2015 Roberts announced that he will return to his alma mater of Bradley University to assume the position of president of the university starting January 1, 2016.
Controversy
In December 2016, when asked how his administration responded to an alleged sexual assault on the campus of Bradley University, Roberts responded:
"We investigated it thoroughly. A lot of these incidents, like this one, involve students who knew each other who got very drunk. Um, teenage kids sometimes behave in stupid ways and that's basically what happened this time. But we've investigated it thoroughly and have taken appropriate steps. We have to put out a campus safety alert when something like happened happened and that causes public alarm, but it really was just an unfortunate incident involving some students that didn't behave very well."
After his initial statement was criticized for not recognizing sexual assault as criminal activity and being dismissive of survivors of sexual assault, Roberts later indicated a desire to "take back my ill-considered comments."
In May 2018, Roberts penned an opinion piece advocating against revoking an honorary degree granted by Bradley University to Bill Cosby after Cosby was convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, acts Roberts described as "horrible behavior".