Pledging to teach, promising to learn: St. Thomas uses 'The Wall' as motivation to set new standards: Butterworth works to inspire his students to succeed.

Think Pink Floyd, and "The Wall" is a 1982 film of a troubled rock star plunging into madness.

Think West Berlin, and "The Wall" is 96 miles of barbed wire and concrete symbolizing the Cold War's beginning in 1961 and its end in 1989 when it came tumbling down.

Think Miami's St. Thomas University School of Law, and "The Wall" is an impromptu contract forged between faculty and the Class of 2006 students, in the form of 300-plus signatures in bold markers on freshly painted plaster in the Moot Courtroom.

Bob Butterworth, the law school's new dean and former Florida attorney general, sparked the wall-signing frenzy on the second day of student orientation this fall. In a rousing speech, Butterworth challenged the class of 300 incoming students that he and the faculty were there to teach and coach, but the students were there to learn.

Butterworth describes that spontaneous combustion that created "The Wall":

"About the third time I stated, 'I will teach!' the students came back with 'I will learn!' 'I will teach!' 'I will learn!' It was this chant thing, and it was unbelievable. I happened to have a marker in my hand, and there was a ladder just outside, so I bad someone bring in the ladder. And I wrote on the wall, 'I will teach and coach. Bob Butterworth, dean.'

"I had a couple of professors come right behind me, same thing. Then I said, 'I want the tallest person out there to come forward.' This young man about 6 foot 7 gets up on a ladder and writes, 'I will learn. Class of 2006.' Everybody went wild. Then we got markers, and within 20 minutes, all 300 students, plus probably 15 or so professors in the room at that time, all wrote on the wall. It blew me away!"

Florida Bar President Miles McGrane wanted to get into the action, too, recently adding his signature to The Wall, with the encouraging message: "I'm waiting to swear you in!"

"I applaud Bob Butterworth's passion to inspire his students to reach higher and succeed in even greater numbers. In my own family, I know of the legacy of St. Thomas in producing good lawyers, as my sister-in-law Mary Anne Lukacs was St. Thomas' first and second bar president. And in my professional family of The Florida Bar, Mark Romance is a St. Thomas alum who has gone on to do great things, including serving as president of the Young Lawyers Division."

Lukacs, who practices in family law and volunteers with Florida Foster Care Review, signed The Wall, too, with this advice: "Enjoy your experience...