Michigan State University-Detroit College of Law Board of Trustees Elects New President

For Immediate Release

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New MSU-DCL Board of Trustees President Clifton E. Haley, '61 (left), and the President Emeritus, the Honorable Richard F. Suhrheinrich, '63.

EAST LANSING, Michigan - September 24, 2001 - The Michigan State University-Detroit College of Law (MSU-DCL) board of trustees has elected Clifton E. Haley as its new president. The election took place at the board’s September 21, 2001, meeting, held in the Law College Building on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU).

Haley, a 1961 Detroit College of Law graduate, succeeds the Honorable Richard F. Suhrheinrich, who has served as board president since 1998. Haley has been on MSU-DCL’s board since 1997, serving as vice president since 1998.

During his time on the board, Haley has taken an innovative approach to increasing the academic standards and enrollment at the law school. He has served on the board’s executive, development, and finance committees as well and is a director of the Law School Foundation Board.

Haley is the former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Budget Rent-a-Car Corporation. He led management in a leveraged buyout of Budget in 1986; completed a successful Initial Public Offer in 1987; and, in a $1.8-billion transaction, took the company private in 1988. Haley worked for Ford Motor Company from 1960 to 1977, where he held a variety of domestic and international management positions.

Currently, Haley is president and owner of the Drummond Island Resort and Conference Center on Drummond Island, located at the eastern-most point of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Terence L. Blackburn, dean of MSU-DCL, said, "Mr. Haley has been a tremendous supporter of the law school, and I look forward to working with him as MSU-DCL strives to become a national leader in legal education. We are in a period of extraordinary change, and his business and management experience will be invaluable to the law college as we chart our future.

In recent years, Haley has used his business expertise to teach graduate-level business and law courses. As an MSU-DCL adjunct faculty member, Haley lectures on mergers and acquisitions. He has been an adjunct professor in the master of business administration programs at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and the University of South Carolina, lecturing on strategy, corporate finance, and the role of a CEO.

In addition to his juris doctor degree, Haley received an honorary doctor of laws degree from MSU-DCL in 1993. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the American Bar Association. Haley is an advisor to Max Capital, a New York investment banking firm, and is a member of the boards of directors of Continental Structural Plastics and the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society.

Haley is an avid aviation enthusiast and flies his own turbine-powered King Air. He and his wife Carolyn, a former Michigan and Illinois teacher, live on Drummond Island.

MSU-DCL is a 111-year-old independent law college affiliated with Michigan State University (MSU). It is the oldest independent, continuously operating law school in the nation. Detroit College of Law affiliated with MSU in 1995 and changed its name to Michigan State University-Detroit College of Law in 1999. While MSU-DCL students have access to MSU’s programs and services, no state funds are used to support the law college.