Washburn University will give the late Sen. Bob Dole one of its biggest honors

Just days short of his 100th birthday, the late Kansas political legend and Washburn University alumnus Bob Dole will receive one of the highest honors at his alma mater.

The Washburn Board of Regents at a special meeting Thursday afternoon voted unanimously to name its new law school building Robert J. Dole Hall.

"Sen. Dole was a great friend to Washburn and truly lived Washburn’s motto of ‘non nobis solum,’ — ‘not for ourselves alone’ — throughout his life,” Washburn president JuliAnn Mazachek said in a statement. “We are so proud to call him an alumnus of Washburn University’s School of Law and to dedicate this building in his name to honor his legacy of service and leadership to the people of our great State of Kansas and our nation.”

While the building will be named after Dole, the law school as an academic unit will remain the Washburn University School of Law.

The building will join the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas and Dole Hall at Kansas State University as academic buildings in the state named after the Kansas icon.

Washburn's $33 million law school building is opening this summer

In planning for much of the past decade and under construction for the past two years, the new $33 million law school building, located at the southeast corner of the university's campus, is set to be one of Washburn crown jewels.

The building's 65,000 square feet of space will include 12,400 square feet of usable classroom space, 7,000 square feet of courtroom and advocacy space, a 2,500-square-foot law clinic and an 11,000-square-foot library.

Many of the classrooms will serve double purposes as lecture space and practice trial venues, while other areas of the building will serve as open studying and event space.

Washburn law professors have spent the past few days moving offices to the new building, with a grand opening planned for July 21 — the day before Dole's 100th birthday.

The new school replaces the now former law school building at 1731 S.W. Plass. Washburn officials earlier this spring announced plans to move the education department to that building, which was originally built in 1968.

Washburn University was special to world-famous Kansan Bob Dole

Although Washburn was not Dole's first college, it always had a special place in his heart.

The Russell, Kansas, native originally enrolled at the University of Kansas and competed on the school's football, track and basketball teams, the last of which was under the tutelage of legendary coach Phog Allen.

Dole broke from his studies, however, in 1942 to enlist and fight in World War II. After suffering serious combat injuries in Italy in 1945 that left him partially paralyzed, Dole returned to the U.S., where he fought to regain much of his mobility. His main lasting injury was limited mobility in his right arm, which he hid by always keeping a pen in his right hand.

After briefly attending the University of Arizona in Tucson, Dole transferred back to Kansas, where he completed his undergraduate degree and later a law degree in 1952. Dole would later receive additional honorary degrees from the school in 1969 and 1985.

He took the lessons he learned at Washburn to establish himself as an influential U.S. senator, helping usher in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and running as the Republican presidential nominee in 1996. Even after that unsuccessful campaign, Dole remained a powerful political figure, cementing his legacy as one of Kansas' all-time political greats.

More: The five most influential moments in Bob Dole's life

Throughout his life, though, Dole often thought back to his alma mater, and together with his wife Sen. Elizabeth Dole, they established and funded a professorship, the Robert. J Dole Center for Law and Government, and the Honorable Robert J. Dole Hall Scholarship for Law Students with Disabilities. Dole remained involved by serving on the school's board of governors and the Washburn University Alumni Association and Foundation board of trustees.

A year before he died in 2021, Dole was touched when told that the law school building's outdoor gathering space would be named the Senator Robert J. Dole Plaza.

"I decided Washburn is where I would get the best education,” Dole said in 2020. “I learned very quickly the value of hard work. My Washburn education was everything for me as I started my career in public service."

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Washburn University names law school building Robert J. Dole Hall