Couple Gives $500K for Law And Sexuality Fund at UA

Michael Hollomon and Eric Wailes

A $500,000 planned gift from Michael Hollomon and Eric Wailes of Fayetteville will create the Richard B. Atkinson Law and Sexuality Fund in the University of Arkansas’ School of Law.

The fund is part of a larger mission to enable UA faculty and students to affect the quality of public discourse associated with issues related to law and sexuality.

The couple is contributing $20,000 annually for current use funding, so projects may be implemented sooner.

Hollomon said in a news release that he and Wailes were inspired and impressed with similar programs at UCLA, Columbia University, Tulane and Harvard, among others.

“We observe that few areas of law and policy have changed as quickly or as dramatically as those regulating the legal rights of members of the LGBTQ community,” he said. “This is a very dynamic area in legal thinking, and society is exploring how people are judged equally under the law. We’re very committed to this initiative.”

The fund is also named for Richard B. Atkinson, former dean of the law school and Hollomon’s former life partner. Atkinson died in 2005.

The fund could support teaching, research, programs, speakers, scholarships, public service opportunities and more. Several projects have been proposed, including a national scholarly paper competition, a travel award to bring notable speakers to campus and send students and faculty to visit external experts and organizations and a new fellowship program.

Hollomon was founding medical director of the psychiatric research unit at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and is retired. Wailes was a professor at the UA for 38 years and is a former holder of the L.C. Carter Endowed Chair for Rice and Soybeans in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. He is also retired.

Both men are members of the Chancellor’s Society and the Towers of Old Main and are counted as thoroughreds for their 25 years of consecutive giving to the university.