HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Syracuse Law Dean, Raised By Adoptive White Parents, Had To Learn To Be Black; He Foresaw Legal Ed Crisis ‘Long Before Other Deans Knew What Hit Them.’

The fact that Boise actually was black didn’t help. Up till then, he didn’t know it. At birth, he was adopted by white parents who thought he was Native American. …

Boise, Syracuse University’s new law school dean, grew up in a white family, in an all-white farming community, unaware he was black. His unique experience of having lived in two worlds makes him a better dean, he said.

Boise jokes that his upbringing was akin to that of Steve Martin’s character in the movie “The Jerk.” “I was the opposite,” he said. “I grew up a poor white boy.”

He’s also ‘The Only Harley-Riding, Piano-Playing, Calf-Roping Law Dean In The Country.’