Gerhard Casper

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Gerhard Casper (born 1937) is a constitutional scholar who is currently a faculty member at Stanford University.

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Casper received degrees from the University of Hamburg in 1961, from Yale University in 1962, and from the University of Freiburg in 1964.

He served as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley from 1964 to 1966.

He joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in 1966, serving as an Associate Professor of Law (and Political Science) until 1969. He was a full Professor of Law and Political Science, 1969-1976; Max Pam Professor of American and Foreign Law, 1976-1980; William B. Graham Professor of Law, 1980-1987; and Graham Distinguished Service Professor of Law, 1987-1992.

He also served as Dean of the Law School from 1979-1987 and as Provost from 1989 to 1992.

In 1992, Casper left the University of Chicago to become President of Stanford. He stepped down from the presidency in 2000 to focus on teaching. Before doing so, however, he had articulated a critical approach to higher education:

On April 18, 1995, he said, to the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association: "If we will indeed see a shift to life-long learning and a move toward what industry calls 'just-in-time' training, then degrees may become increasingly meaningless." (http://www.stanford.edu/dept/pres-provost/president/speeches/950418millennium.html)

On September 23, 1996, he wrote to Mr. James Fallows, Editor of U.S. News & World Report: "I am extremely skeptical that the quality of a university - any more than the quality of a magazine - can be measured statistically." (http://www.stanford.edu/dept/pres-provost/president/speeches/961206gcfallow.html)

(See Gresham's law for the related concept.)

He is currently the Peter and Helen Bing Professor in Undergraduate Education, Professor of Law, a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a Professor of Political Science (by courtesy).

He is concurrently a successor trustee of Yale University, holds a seat on the Board of Trustees of the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, and served on the Trilateral Commission.

Casper is married to Regina Casper, M.D., who was a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago before becoming a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science in the School of Medicine at Stanford.

Gerhard and Regina Casper have one daughter.