Professor Harris Weiner strives to teach students constitutional protections and what good legislation is for criminal justice. Photo by James McIntosh.
“It’s my goal to have the students have
Harris Weiner, a part-time professor in the University of Rhode Island’s political science department, wants his students to understand the importance of constitutional protections and good representation in the criminal justice system.
Weiner has been litigating for 32 years, and serves as the Rhode Island State Senate minority counsel, and was previously deputy executive counsel to Governor Lincoln Almond. As senate minority counsel, he is responsible for reviewing all the bills that come to the floor for a vote, drafting pieces of legislation and advising the senate minority caucus on policy, important legal matters and more. He has argued numerous cases, including recovering $8 million for the state from an insurance company and preventing the eviction of a man because he was handicapped and relied extensively on his dog.
In the classroom, Weiner hopes to give his students an intense look into the criminal justice system, making students in his PSC 388 class, the American Legal System, attend eight hours of court to gain exposure.
“Each case involves people,” he said. “It involves constitutional rights, it involves their livelihood, it involves their liberty. Unless you see it firsthand, I don’t think you can appreciate the importance of constitutional protections and good legal representation for people who are caught up in the justice system, particularly on the criminal side.”
Weiner has advised the State Senate Minority Caucus on cases of reproductive rights, gun control, the opioid crisis, marijuana legalization and more, and discusses all of these topics in his course each semester.
He also wants his students to understand the importance of good representation, and explained that poor people are at a significant disadvantage in the courts. In 2003, he was awarded the Rhode Island Bar Association Pro Bono Publico Award for volunteering his legal services to those who were in poverty and needed legal representation to improve their lives. Weiner won the award because he prevented a man from being evicted on the basis that he had AIDS.
“I volunteered extensively for a number of years so that tenants rights’ would be protected and that people wouldn’t be wrongfully evicted or mistreated,” he said. “I felt that it was a professional obligation to contribute my time to Pro Bono work.”
At the conclusion of the semester, he hopes that students will walk away with three key takeaways. First, if students are considering attending law school, he hopes they will have a better idea of whether or not to continue on that path. Second, he wants everyone to have a grounding on constitutional principles. Third, he wants them to recognize the intersection of public policy and the judiciary system. He believes it is important to give them the tools to become an insightful consumer of news related to the legal system.
“I’ve always been intrigued by people who can combine the academic with other fields, and that’s how the American legal system course has been designed,” he said. “My predecessor designed the course to be both academic and experiential by giving students some courtroom experience as well as traditional academic learning.”
Political Science Department Chair Marc Hutchsion explained that the professor who used to teach the course informed him during the summer that he would not be returning to URI. Hutchison quickly began searching for a new faculty member to fill the vacancy because he did not want to cancel the course, and Weiner was recommended to him because of his extensive legal background and prior teaching experiences at other colleges and universities in the state.
“Given that this class details the inner workings of our legal and court systems, this class is very effective when taught by someone who is a practitioner in the legal field,” Hutchison said. “I was impressed by Mr. Weiner’s experience and teaching credentials which made him a great fit for the course. In our interview, I found him to be quite interesting and thought he would be able to engage and connect with our students.”