Prominent Local Lawyer Receives ALM Degree

Some of you may know him as a political analyst on local television, or as a candidate for mayor of Boston. Some of you may have read his article on Boston politics in the "Focus" section of the Boston Sunday Globe on February 7. But how many of you know that David I. Finnegan has completed his Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) degree with a concentration in government at the Extension School?

Finnegan ascribes his lifelong interest in government and public affairs to his boyhood days in the Neponset section of Dorchester where he attended parochial elementary and high schools. "In my neighborhood," he said, speaking particularly of school issues, "there was a fervor and hope about the situation in Boston, a hope that was magnified for the nation itself." The early 1960s, he added, were days of dreams and debate.

David I. Finnegan, ALM '99

In 1975 he was elected to the Boston School Committee and served as its president until 1980. During that tumultuous time--while witnessing the introduction of busing and the resultant upheaval--Finnegan introduced management reforms, initiated departmental reorganization, and received credit for bringing the School Committee back to its original focus on education. After he left the Committee, he ran for mayor of Boston, finishing second to Ray Flynn.

From 1979 to 1983, Finnegan hosted New England's highest rated talk show on WBZ Radio, The Dave Finnegan Show, and subsequently Weekend with Dave Finnegan on CBS, Channel 7 Boston. A graduate of Stonehill College, he was named "Outstanding Alumnus of the Year" in 1982, received the College's Presidential Award for Excellence in 1987, and now serves on its Board of Trustees. In addition, he has been a member of the National Board of Trustees of the Leukemia Society of America and president of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Leukemia Society. Currently he is a managing partner in the law firm of Finnegan, Underwood, Ryan & Tierney, which specializes in corporate regulatory law. He received his law degree from Boston University Law School.

Looking at these achievements and his affection for the Boston area, Finnegan again acknowledged neighborhood influences. "From an early age it was understood that you owed your community something," he declared, pointing out that he reached adulthood at a time and in a place that supported aspiring politicians, especially those concerned with the challenges of change.

When it came time to find a topic for his ALM thesis, Finnegan decided he wanted to re-examine the busing issue and Boston's attempt to desegregate its public schools that created so much turmoil during his term as president of the Boston School Committee. His thesis director, Professor Stephan Thernstrom of Harvard University's History Department, suggested he compare Boston to Denver, since both cities went through similar crises involving the desegregation of schools during the 1970s. Denver has since ceased busing and returned to neighborhood schools, while Boston continues to spend millions of dollars a year on busing. In his analysis of this practice, Finnegan proposes that a new phenomenon has arisen, which he calls the "captive constituency," a hierarchy of constituencies dominated by the Mayor's Office. This oligarchy of special interests, Finnegan concludes, largely ignores the wishes of parents of school-aged children and continues the policy of busing minority students to predominately minority schools outside their own neighborhoods. Part of his analysis appeared in the Boston Globe "Focus" piece.

In describing his own experience in the ALM Program, Finnegan said the phrase "well beyond my expectations" immediately came to mind. He highly recommends the ALM Program, stating that the quality of each and every class was "extraordinary."