Mark Oppenheimer on the “Perry Masonification of our schools” — i.e., the explosion in the number of lawyers who work for colleges and universities:

Changes in American law have encouraged that attenuation of loyalty. The expansion of Title IX rules for athletics, the constantly evolving rules about gender equality and sexual harassment and, lately, the practice of holding schools accountable for students’ mental health–suing M.I.T. for not preventing a beloved daughter’s suicide, to take a recent example–mean that there are ever more reasons to sue. On-staff lawyers are thus needed as prophylactics, advising faculty and staff on how to ensure themselves against liability. After all, as Mr. Stoner explained: “In-house lawyers are a lot cheaper. There’s a lot of specialized knowledge that you don’t want to pay $300 an hour to have someone read up on.”