Last Tuesday, April 25, Faustino Cordón, Full Professor of Procedural Law, gave his last lecture class in the School of Law of the University. Accompanied by fellow faculty members, students, family and friends, when he closed the door of classroom 11 he put an end to almost fifty years dedicated to teaching and research, but above all, dedicated to his students.

Faustino Cordón was born in Sartaguda in 1952. After a brief stay in Anguiano (La Rioja), at the age of four, when his father died, he moved with his mother and younger brother to Villava and there he spent his life under the tutelage of a priest uncle. It was he who, once he had finished the programs of study de high school diploma at high school Ximénez de Rada in Pamplona, encouraged him to study law. Faustino is grateful that St. Josemaría decided to found the University of Navarre in Pamplona, since the status economic situation at home would not have allowed him to go to study in another city; and he fondly recalls the private Latin classes he gave while he was studying at degree program to cover part of his expenses. 

Fifty-three years have passed since Faustino Cordón began his programs of study at the University in 1970. When he finished, in 1975, he was appointed teaching assistant, joined the department of Procedural Law with his teacher, Professor Gutiérrez de Cabiedes, and began to prepare his doctoral thesis , which he defended in 1977. During his career, he has combined his teaching position at the University of Navarra with the teaching at the University of the Balearic Islands, where he obtained the place of Associate Professor in 1979; and at the University of Alcalá, where in 1987 he obtained the Chair in Procedural Law, as he says, "the Law that protects all rights".

Now a permanent member of the University of Navarra, in 1990 he was appointed Dean of the School Law School, where he set up the School of internship Jurídica and promoted the implementation of programs of study of postgraduate program. 

At the time of being proposed for Dean, you ask committee to Mr. Ismael Sanchez Bella. What did he tell you?

I had no experience of government and I asked Ismael for committee : "Worry about people, everything else will follow", he told me. And, indeed, I have been able to verify during all these years that it was a wise committee , the result of fidelity to the founding spirit, because if anything characterizes this School and the University is to put the person at the center. That spirit is what motivated me to stay at the University and not to develop my professional degree program in Madrid, where other horizons were opening up. Here we are here to make the best university, but with a spirit of service to others. For me it has been an honor and very exciting to contribute to pull the cart to achieve it.  

How has School evolved?

The School and the University have changed a lot since I joined teaching assistant in 1975 and I think for the better. I had to coexist with teachers of great prestige and human quality: Don Álvaro D'Ors, Don Amadeo de Fuenmayor, Francisco Sancho, Jorge Carreras, etc. When the change took place and up to the present time, I have shared the faculty with other teachers, perhaps less known, but moved by the same spirit. Some of them have served me as model and I have learned a lot from all of them, although I have never been able to beat them in generosity. I have also experienced complicated situations, with serious difficulties for the incorporation of teachers; a School with many students and a shortage of classrooms; and problems to implement the new Study program according to the Bologna guidelines. But, looking back, I think they were all for the better and School came out of them stronger. 

What do you take away from all these years?

Many things, but the students have been my passion and I have always tried to be available for them. That's what I will miss the most, the attention direct with the students. 

And, now that the university is taking different actions to encourage these academic vocations, how would you motivate student to dedicate themselves professionally to the university?

On the one hand, the daily coexistence with the different people who make up the university community and the dedication to teaching and research provide you with values and a training that are more difficult to achieve in other professional fields. On the other hand, the relationship staff and continuous relationship with the teacher greatly enriches the disciple; although, in my case, I can say that it has also been the other way around, because I have learned a lot from my students. Of course, it is not necessary to dedicate oneself to the academic life if at the end of degree program the goal is to soon have an apartment in property and a healthy account in the bank. The motivations must be different and the priority must be people. It seems to me that trying to instill these motivations is part of the university professor's official document .

What are you going to do from now on?

I have a lot of material to order and I will dedicate time to write and make some collaborations. I will dedicate more time to my family, especially to my wife; I have the duty to compensate her for the much I have stolen from her. But also to my grandchildren, whom I would like to pick up at high school and invite them to have a snack while being a grandfather. I am also very excited about the partnership with my parish in some social work with people in need in which I can be useful. And, if after all this I still have time, I would like to get the vegetable garden I have in the village going and prepare the winter vegetables.

Do you have any anecdote, any event, that you will always remember from your academic career?

The day of my civil service examination to the Chair at the University of Alcalá de Henares comes to mind. I knew that three of the five members of the panel were in my favor. I was excited and calm. I remember that, at that time, Don Álvaro D'Ors used to say, although I suppose more jokingly than seriously: 'the first thing to be Full Professor, is to have three votes'. When it was time for the constitution of the tribunal, one of the three members I had in my favor was not there, so my calmness gave way to nervousness. Thank God, after several vicissitudes, including a car chase, the missing member arrived and, in the end, everything went well; even better than expected because the five members of the tribunal supported me.