Civil rights for all is an easy idea to support in theory, but when it comes to some of society's most challenging and marginalized groups-prisoners and ex-prisoners, including the mentally ill and sex offenders-the issue sometimes seems more complicated. Through his legal services, this alumnus is deeply committed to helping the powerless in society.

After graduating from Grinnell, this alumnus earned a law degree from the University of Iowa, where he was first in his class. A former professor recalls that this alumnus had "relentless intellectual energy, sound judgment, and a dominant social conscience focused on the plight of the disadvantaged and disempowered."

In 1977, this alumnus began his practice. He regularly provides legal service to indigent prison inmates, and has sought to protect their rights to freedom of speech and religious expression. He has challenged the overcrowded conditions in prisons, and the process by which prison officials segregate some inmates. He has taken on difficult and unpopular causes, including the constitutionality of an Iowa law that prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any school or day-care center-a law that essentially eliminates all housing for this group of people.

In 2004, the Iowa City Human Rights Commission presented him with an award for his significant contribution to human rights. A lawyer who frequently serves as this alumnus's opposing counsel in prison litigation says that he "cannot imagine a person more committed to fairness in the justice system."

When not practicing law, this alumnus maintains an extensive garden in his yard, in his words, "to maintain my sanity."

For his unstinting service to the politically and socially powerless and to his commitment to the beautification of his local community, Grinnell is pleased to recognize Philip Mears '71.