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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Law - Unsettled times at Ave Maria Law School

"Controversy Escalates Over Mich. Law School's Move: Professor suspended, and faculty protests intensify" is the headline to this story by Tresa Baldas in The National Law Journal. It begins:

A decision to move Michigan's Ave Maria School of Law to Florida has touched off a firestorm of controversy at the seven-year-old Catholic law school.

A disagreement over the relocation has escalated in the past few months into a feud between the dean and several faculty members who allege they are being mistreated and ignored. The claims have led to many students and faculty leaving the school and raised concerns about accreditation.

During the past year, the majority of faculty passed a vote of no confidence in the dean. Also, faculty members sent a formal complaint about the dean to the American Bar Association (ABA), alleging that he unfairly denied them a voice in the relocation decision, intimidated faculty members who opposed the move, cut pay raises for those who voiced objections and removed some professors from top committee chairs.

Meanwhile, three professors have resigned, including one last week. Also, two have taken leaves of absence, and one has been suspended.

Between 15 and 20 students are leaving the school, according to staff and the dean's office. Ave Maria currently has 380 students. The school received ABA accreditation in 2005.

Dean Bernard Dobranski insists that the problems will not hurt the school's accreditation status or its move to Florida in 2009.

"We received accreditation in the fastest amount of time possible. Why would we, less than two years later, somehow be at risk of losing that?" Dobranski said. "What we're seeing is an awful lot of stuff to create this notion that it's a law school that's falling apart and in dire straits, and that's simply not the case."

But, he added, "that doesn't mean that we don't have some faculty that are not happy."

For background on the Indiana connection, start with this ILB entry from May 1, 2007.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 22, 2007 03:34 PM
Posted to General Law Related