Fran Quigley is clinical professor of law and director of the Health and Human Rights Clinic at the Robert H. McKinney School of Law. He was educated in Indiana (Hanover College and Indiana University) and served as chief of staff for Congresswoman Julia Carson and as executive director of ACLU Indiana before he trained, advised, and supported students in their education and advocacy work for the rights of the poor with special focus on the human right to safe and affordable housing. His commitment to social justice and human rights in the Indianapolis community with impact well beyond the city’s limits was the basis for recognizing him with the Gerald L Bepko Community Medallion in 2022.
The selection committee found that he has fulfilled all of the criteria that the Medallion represents in exemplary fashion. As a teacher he has enhanced the curriculum through experiential learning, well suited to prepare educated, engaged citizens. The students in the Health and Human Rights Clinic address critical societal issues in large part because of strong democratic values and a well-developed sense of civic responsibility. Under Quigley’s supervision, law students concentrate their legal representations involving benefits and wage claims of low-income workers thereby contributing to the greater public good.
Complementary to the practical and often time-sensitive work of the clinic is Fran Quigley’s role as researcher and author, evident in the publication of many articles, essays in reaction to current issues, and five books, most recently Faith in Action: An Introduction to Religious Socialism, the topics of which include the accessibility and affordability of medicine, the labor movement, homelessness and eviction, and the inequities in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Quigley’s civic engagement reaches far beyond Indiana, his advocacy reaching HIV-positive citizens in Kenya and victims of the cholera outbreak in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010.