Does Domino’s Dough Not Go Far Enough?
We thought the whole point of Ave Maria Law School, founded by Domino’s pizza founder Thomas Monaghan, was that with enough money, you can do whatever you want. E.g., establish a very conservative, Catholic law school, and not care if the liberal legal academy raises its eyebrows — ‘cause you could buy and sell them, several times over.
So doesn’t it defeat the whole point if Ave Maria requires funding from sources beyond Monaghan’s pile of pizza dough? From Julie Kay’s article in the National Law Journal:
Got $20 million? If so, you could have a law school building named after you.Ave Maria School of Law is selling naming rights to the new law school facility it’s building in southwest Florida.
“We’d like to find someone who would want the opportunity to have their name associated with the school, to help us with the construction costs,” said Dean Bernard Dobranski. He said the school is rapidly moving forward with its controversial plan to relocate from Ann Arbor, Mich., to Ave Maria, Fla., and has even obtained architectural renderings of the new school.
Ave Maria is already in turmoil: controversy over its move from Michigan to Florida, lawsuits filed by three professors who claim they were wrongfully terminated, an ongoing investigation by the American Bar Association. A suggestion that Tom Monaghan’s coffers are not infinite could not come at a worse time.
Meanwhile, in other Domino’s news, they’re trying to return to the glory days of their 30-minute delivery guarantee — without getting sued. Delivering delicious pizza in under half an hour is a noble mission. We wish them the best of luck.
P.S. Tom Monaghan no longer owns the pizza chain. He sold his controlling interest to Bain Capital in 1998 for about a billion dollars, which he plowed into launching Ave Maria University.
Ave Maria still looks to move, puts name on block [National Law Journal]
Domino’s Pizza and the Law [WSJ Law Blog]
Will a Twist on an Old Vow Deliver for Domino’s Pizza? [Wall Street Journal]
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Students that go to Ave Marie are f'd even worse than before. Not only do you have to overpay for a terrible legal education, you now have to move 1500 miles south! Ha, you should have studied more for the LSAT or not f'd off so much in college. 10% of you can always transfer...
wow! I can't believe this. Really ridiculous. Domino's is bringing back their 30 minute delivery guarantee! yes!
Just what florida needs... another CRAP law school.
"Elian Gonzalez school of law"
As my friend above suggests, transferring from Ave Maria to Hofstra after my first year was the best move I could have made.
Sure, Ave Maria has the genius mind of Robert Bork, but the job prospects for Hostra grads more than make up for the shortage of conservative heavyweights in the classrooms here.
With the move to Florida, maybe they can now advertise the school as a 3 year spring break, with an all-inclusive, all-you-can-eat Domino's pizza package.
Why anyone would choose Ave Marie over the more prestigious Regent law school is beyond me.
*Real* Christians choose Fordham.
In other news, Hamburger University decided to add yet another law school to our nation's education system. Dean Grimmace made the announcement yesterday, following a recent move by Domino's Pizza Law School.
Hamburger University is very Prestigious.
Founded in 1961.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_University
Clearly, the Noid is to blame.
I'm thinking about donating the $20 million to have the school named after me...
What do you all think...?
Do all crim pro hypos at Hamburger U. (aka Bovine University) involve the Hamburglar?
Hamburglar to 190!!
Here is a is a picture of Monaghan sitting next to Mitt Romney as he signs a significant portion of his ownership over to Domino's in 1998. (although the pic is on the 1984 part of the timeline)
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/11/14/us/politics/20071114_ROMNEY_TIMELINE.html
Maybe it should seek help from competitors. Papa John's Legal Research Center perhaps?
Give us some more bonus and raise news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A couple of years ago, the Red Sox let people bid to name Fenway after someone for a day. A Yankees won and tried to name it Derek Jeter park.
Let's pool our money, and name it after Larry Craig.
Now that the leftist legal academy has allied itself with the Noid, both pizza and law schools will be ruined.
I'm also thinking about donating the $20 million to have the school named after me.
See you at the auction, Connie.
I go to UM and have lived in Ann Arbor for 2 years. I've never met an Ave maria student--- which would seem impossible based on the size of this town. Are we really sure that Ave Maria even exists/
Someone should pool money and name a building after Noam Chomsky.
DOMINOS' PIZZA SUCKS MY BALLS! IT'S HORRENDOUS, AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY IT'S CALLED "PIZZA."
WE WERE STARVING WHEN WE ARRIVED ON OUR FIRST VISIT TO NYC. WE ASKED OUR FRIEND TO ORDER US SOME PIZZA. THINKING SHE WOULD HOOK US UP WITH SOME GOOD PIZZA NY IS KNOWN FOR, SHE ORDERED US DOMINOS, AND WE PAID ALMOST $30 FOR THAT OVERPRICED SLOP! SHE IS NO LONGER A FRIEND.
No, 1:00, but we are sure how little Michigan students socialize.
Connie Lingus School of Law. Now that is funny.
Jonathan Lee Riches (c) Law Library
I've got a cool grand burnin' a hole in my pocket myself, how 'bout we name a cell phone booth after me???
So how much did this Ave Maria chick pay to get the school named after her?
"Boalt Hall" is now available.
Good luck, Connie and Harry. I have all of Germany's coffers to back up my bid.
You pathetic humans disgust me. I shit 20 million dollar bills after breakfast. I plan to buy the naming rights for 666 million dollars. Suck it!!
LOL @ "genius mind of Robert Bork"
1:18 - Your remark is extremely offensive.
As an artisticlly talented mentally retarted homosexual jew with a limp who has converted to catholocism, I demand an apology!
This Thomas Monaghan guy doesn't own Ave Maria law school - he owns the Brooklyn-style Law School here in NY.
Sure thing, Sally. I'm sorry you're a crippled retarded fairy who is not part of the Master Race. Here, let me offer you a shower as condolence.
I clerked on a circuit court with a couple of Ave Maria grads. Their legal analysis was often as lacking as their social skills.
If 200,000 of us can just pitch in $10, we'll have the money necessary to name the school whatever we want. Lat - do you want to coordinate?
I think TTT School of Law would work, except Ave Maria is in the 4th tier. Wishful thinking, I suppose. Though any of the above names are fine.
Ave Maria Law was supposed to move and build the school based on the financing of real estate sales from Ave Maria Town. Now that the real estate bubble has popped, they need more outside donors.
Well, Monaghan has alienated the one base of support that might have donated to Ave Maria Law with his arbitrary and insane control of the school.
Unfortunately, the school will probably fail as a result of Monaghan's gross mismanagement.
And UM @ 1300, there are quite a few transfers to UM from Ave over the last few years especially from last year since the announcement of the move.
Further, Prof. Bromberg, the designer of Ave's research and writing program is back at UM to flee the impending disaster.
I clerked on a circuit court with Bad Andy. His legal analysis was often as lacking as his social skills. And he was a douche too.
Good idea, math genius.
What say you, Lat? Let's raise this money and get our name on the building!
"Above The Law's TTTT Center for Legal Studies" What do you think, Lat?
$20 million for a building at absolute bottom of the barrel? For that much you could get a decent-sized structure at a respectable institution. Or a handicapped stall at Harvard.
Besides being psychos with terrible LSATs they have no sense of efficient pricing - $1,000,000 tops.
There is a 4th tier?
Forget about naming rights - you can win "a Iphone" if you refer enough people to the admissions office!
http://fumare.blogspot.com/2007/12/who-wants-to-win-iphone-i-do-i-do.html
12:30: Maybe Catholic people just like to go to a Catholic law school? Catholic school is a special thing and not the same as a Christian non-Catholic school like Regent.
Of course, I would recommend Catholic University. I LOVED it there, and it's a great feeder school into the government and firms practicing administrative and election law in DC.
Thanks for the story on my alma mater. U Miami had its surge and that American Justice law school in KY had its moment in the sun, but there is no law school as dysfunctional and pathetic as Ave. We are in a tier of our own.
"Their legal analysis was often as lacking as their social skills."
That this sentence need not be construed as the devastating put-down you thought it was (perhaps neither were at all lacking?) says as much about your analytic ability as the fact that you attempt to disparage colleagues in an anonymous blog comment says about your social skills. Lacking in both, douchebag.
you are all a bunch of Catholic bashing scumbags. I hope you get your AMERICAN JUSTICE! someday soon.
Overrated: Domino's Pizza.
Underrated: The pizza at your local dive pizza place (every town has one).
The Ave Maria and UM law student social bubbles and clicks don't overlap much which is probably why you've never seen an Ave student in Ann Arbor. Ave Maria is also on the North-east end of town by North Campus whereas UM law is on central campus. It's not like we wear Ave Maria shirts wherever we go either. I've lived in the area for years and very rarely see Ave (unless I visit the law school) or UM law students around town.
I am a current 1L at Ave. I score in the 160's and above a 3.5 at my top 100 undergraduate.
I am proud to be here at Ave and I do not plan on transferring.
If the only reason you're going to Ave Maria is because it's Catholic, you overlooked Loyola Chicago. Also in the Midwest, cheaper(!), and a Jesuit institution (the only real Catholics left). Also not 8th Tier and in a city that is not run by a crack smoking negro.
"I score in the 160's ..."
Thanks, Ave Maria 1L, that was really helpful. And top 100, great. What was your major, ESL?
Ave Maria 1L, Jesus will smite you with ass cancer for wasting your very negligible talent.
Catholic Guy,
I applied to other Catholic schools and was accepted.
Boko/Benedict Arnold,
I double majored in Theology and Medieval history with a minor in philosophy.
What do you mean you never see Ave students around AA? They don't wear name tags, but you can tell who they are because they don't have dreadlocks, or Che Guevara t-shirts. Finding them around UofM is kind of like playing "Where's Waldo."
Douche.
"From: Dobranski, Bernard
Sent: Mon 12/17/2007 11:56 AM
To: All Law System Distribution; All Alumni
Cc:
Subject: National Law Journal Article
The National Law Journal published an article today with an extremely misleading statement. The article indicates that we are willing to sell the law school name for the money to finance the new law school facility in Florida. This is not correct. The Ave Maria School of Law name is not for sale for any sum, and the name will not be changed for any reason, financial or otherwise. It is who we are.
Like many academic institutions, including law schools, we are open to the naming of the law school building to house the Ave Maria School of Law for an appropriate donor who wishes to help with the construction costs of that building. That is a far cry, however, from the selling of the naming rights to the law school itself."
------
It's worth noting that many students here are on scholarship. Granted, my free law degree may be worth nothing in a few years (and was never worth anything to begin with, so say the prestige whores), but at least there will be no pressure to pay any loans back.
And until the move, we've got both JJ White and Doug Kahn from U of M teaching here as adjuncts. Free T14 Classes at My Tier-4.
"From: Dobranski, Bernard
Sent: Mon 12/17/2007 11:56 AM
To: All Law System Distribution; All Alumni
Cc:
Subject: National Law Journal Article
The National Law Journal published an article today with an extremely misleading statement. The article indicates that we are willing to sell the law school name for the money to finance the new law school facility in Florida. This is not correct. The Ave Maria School of Law name is not for sale for any sum, and the name will not be changed for any reason, financial or otherwise. It is who we are.
Like many academic institutions, including law schools, we are open to the naming of the law school building to house the Ave Maria School of Law for an appropriate donor who wishes to help with the construction costs of that building. That is a far cry, however, from the selling of the naming rights to the law school itself."
------
It's worth noting that many students here are on scholarship. Granted, my free law degree may be worth nothing in a few years (and was never worth anything to begin with, so say the prestige whores), but at least there will be no pressure to pay any loans back.
And until the move, we've got both JJ White and Doug Kahn from U of M teaching here as adjuncts. Free T14 Classes at My Tier-4.
Fat Bitch, the ability to interpret subtlety and context is a part of having analytical skills. Whoops!
Your "interpret subtlety" is just verbiage. There was no subtlety in your remark. Do you really believe that will make us think you're smart? Or not a douchebag?
Your "context" bit is closer to the mark: you're hinting at the idea that certain linguistic constructions carry within themselves assumptions not made explicit by the words themselves: in this case, the convention that, when one says "X is as bad as Y", one leaves unspoken the further premise that "...and Y is quite bad, indeed". "Context" isn't really le mot juste, here, though, but nice try.
Good legal analysts, when presenting their analysis in writing, leave no assumptions unwritten. Douchebags, on the other hand ... do.
Now, about your social skills....
In 5 years, it will be embarrassing to have attended a law school that does not exist anymore. Someone with a 160 and good grades could have gone to any number of mediocre tier 2 schools and instead chose a dump like ave maria; presumably because its owner is a religious kook who happened to stumble on the concept of cheap delivered processed food.
ave maria students are the reason it is still socially acceptable to openly espouse anti-Catholic bias. I hate them for that and I hope they find asbestos in the buildings. Jesus hates you all.
Fat Bitch, I wasn't the original commenter. I was just saying his/her meaning was obvious.
4:07 - no He doesn't.
Listen, we all know that Ave Maria is a shit school that no one's heard of and whose graduates should be ashamed to hang their diplomas in their document review cubicals. That doesn't mean we have to say it.
Loud and nasty Dawn, that's the only way it sticks.
Could a LS named Ave Maria ever hope to be taken seriously in the first place?
Wow. If you are so set on going to a Catholic law school, why would you drop a ton of cash to go to a fourth-tier toilet like Ave when you could spend a lot less to go to more worthy, not to mention established, Catholic institutions like, oh, I dunno:
Boston College, Catholic U, DePaul, Duquesne, Fordham, Georgetown, Loyola (Chicago, N.O., LA), Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Villanova, etc., etc.
It's got to be great to be a Ave 1L right now. Surprise! You get to move between your second and third years from the suburbs of Ann Arbor to the armpit of South Florida.
"Ave Maria re-invents hometown living with a flourishing new community complementing a new University. Inspired by the eternal charm of Italy’s hill towns, it offers diverse homes at diverse prices and incomparable amenities, including a water park, as well as everything residents need for daily living. In short, Ave Maria is an exciting place to live, work, play and learn for every family, every lifestyle, and every dream."
From: Admissions
Sent: Thu 12/6/2007 3:25 PM
To: All Students; All Law School Personnel; All Alumni
Subject: Refer and win!
Don't you just love our students?
Aren't they the smartest, funniest, prettiest law students of them all?
Do you know someone who would love it here as well?
Here is your chance to assist our enrollment efforts for the Class of 2011
Refer a friend, a family member, a family member's friend (you get it...) and enter a drawing* to win a [sic]
iPhone!!! [original is in huge boldfaced letters]
This is our way of thanking you for your support!
To ensure that your name is entered into the drawing*, please request that the applicant add your name in the section V. B.
It's that simple!
So! While you spread the Christmas cheer, make sure you spread the word about Ave!
*The drawing will be held January 15, 2008
I went to Ave Maria and the most valuable thing I got was this lousy iPhone.
"Pass the bar in 30 tries or less or your education's free!"
"If you can franchise pizza restaurants, why can't you franchise Catholic schools?"
- Tom Monaghan (9/14/00)
Check it out:
http://avewatch.com/files/6fbdb7c8172c92a0b396d2d23080028b-141.html
Rude awakening #1 for the first day of class at Ave Maria University-
It isn't a Catholic school
Over the weekend, the spokesperson for the Diocese of Venice (Florida) was quoted as saying "[AMU] is not a Catholic university. It's a private university in the Catholic tradition."
Only institutions approved by their local diocese can be called "Catholic". This is no trivial matter. It is a measure designed to preserve accountability and chain-of-command with entities that want to be affiliated with the official Church. Surely Tom Monaghan knows this, given the brain trust of high powered Catholics that surround him. Yet, since AMU's inception, Ave Maria has billed itself everywhere as "the first new Catholic university to be built in the United States in more than 40 years". Their website talks about it as a "Catholic environment", "a vibrant Catholic university", and "an institution of Catholic higher education that would be faithful to the Magisterium".
Faithful? AMU's website states further that it "pledges faithfulness to the teachings of the Church" and that AMU "is known for faithfulness to the magisterium of the Catholic Church".
If Tom Monaghan is going to walk the talk, he can begin by ceasing and correcting his incessant and deceptive use of "Catholic university" in marketing his Ave Maria "brand". Your Bishop has spoken, Mr. Monaghan. Will you comply, or is marketing (like unionization) another one of those things "that the hierarchy doesn't know as much about" and can therefore be ignored?
Dobranski Letter on AMSL Bar Exam Performance
From: Dobranski, Bernard
Sent: Tue 11/6/2007 10:13 AM
To: All Law System Distribution; All Alumni
Subject: Michigan Bar Results
11-06-2007 Michigan Bar Exams.pdf
____________
As some of you may have heard by now, our graduates' performance on the Michigan Bar Exam this year was not as strong as we would have hoped for and have been accustomed to in the past. Although over two dozen of our graduates passed the Michigan bar, and reports received so far indicate that our test takers have performed better in other states, we had a higher percentage of failures in Michigan than in past years. This July, 26 out of 36, or 72 percent, of first-time test takers in Michigan passed. This ranks Ave Maria sixth among the six Michigan law schools. Obviously, this is disappointing to all of us. Strong bar passage rates have, since our beginning, been a hallmark of Ave Maria School of Law, and we are rightfully proud of our graduates' past succes and want to continue this tradition of achievement.
I, the Board of Governors, the Faculty, and the Administration at the Law School all take bar exam passage rates seriously. Unlike rankings and other more subjective evaluations, the bar exam is an important objective measure of the quality of our program of legal education and our students.
I believe it is useful to share with you some of what we at the Law School do to help prepare our graduates for success on the bar exam. First, and most importantly, we continue to provide a first-rate legal education. As you know, we are heavily focused on required classes, most of which address key subject areas tested on bar exams. In fact, Ave Maria requires its students to take more core classes than most other law schools. This curriculum has served our students well and I am committed to continuing it.
In addition, through the Academic Support program, the Career Services Office, and the Office of Student Affairs, among others, we offer extensive programming designed to help prepare students for the bar exam. For example, we bring several bar review companies to the campus to inform students about their products and what they can expect as the bar exam approaches. We present a panel discussion with alumni, faculty, and staff who share their advice on how to succeed on the bar exam. And, we bring character and fitness representatives from the State Bar of Michigan to discuss preparing the application to sit for the test. The unfortunate reality is that these lunchtime presentations are often sparsely attended.
Each year I, and members of the administration and faculty, emphasize to recent graduates the importance of taking the bar exam seriously and passing it the first time. I also strongly suggest that graduates enroll in a structured, formal bar review class and avoid working if at all possible. During Dean Castro's exit interview with each graduating student, she emphasizes the importance of taking some bar review course and encourages students to study hard for the bar exam. Dean Keesler and Dean Zyskowski repeatedly warn students of the importance and difficulty of the bar exam, and Ermin Gornik in alumni affairs has several initiatives each summer to help students even up to the day of the test itself. Finally, we have often helped students who are appealing their results in states that allow appeals.
Even with all of this support, however, it is obvious that we can and need to do more. Here are some more recent initiatives. First, I have for a second time recommended to the faculty Curriculum Committee that we offer a for-credit, elective class addressing bar exam preparation, which students could take in their third year of law school. Professor Jane Adolphe, the Chair of our Curriculum Committee, is already hard at work at this within the Committee. Second, in early September I established a new ad hoc committee dedicated to making our procedures more formal for helping students with bar exam appeals. This Committee just completed assisting a former student who took and failed the bar exam in another jurisdiction, and it stands ready to assist our Michigan test takers. In this regard, every Ave Maria student who failed the Michigan Bar Exam has already been contacted by a member of this Committee and offered assistance. We already know that at least three test takers were within two or three points of passing, and I am hopeful that the Committee can assist them in successfully appealing. Third, I have instructed Dean Keesler and others to increase their efforts to emphasize to recent graduates the importance of taking the bar exam seriously. Fourth, I will again emphasize to our faculty, especially those who teach first-year courses, that they must familiarize themselves with the bar exam questions in their subject areas and ensure proper coverage during their classes. Finally, we continue to contemplate what other forms of assistance we can provide to our students and graduates.
In summary, the Law School is committed to doing whatever it can to help students pass the bar exam. This is our institutional responsibility. The ultimate responsibility for properly preparing for the bar exam, however, resides with the test takers themselves. If test takers do not take advantage of the many opportunities we provide or respond to our many admonishments to prepare well, there is little else we can do to assist them.
Over the past few years, I have been made aware of anecdotal evidence that suggests that some of our graduates have not taken the bar exam seriously, as they should have. Accordingly, I have directed that we collect data about our test takers in Michigan and other states, focusing on the type and quality of bar preparation undertaken and other circumstances that may have contributed to bar exam failures. We should all remember that a strong performance on the bar exam is not a birthright or a gift that our graduates receive simply by attending Ave Maria. Our graduates have traditionally prepared intensively for the bar exam, and this hard work was reflected in prior passage rates. We continue to believe that we are offering an outstanding educational program and are preparing our students well for the bar exam. But strong performance on the bar exam is closely related to the quality of the test taker's preparation for the test, and without that hard work the results will likely suffer.
In conclusion, I challenge everyone in the law school community to work together and redouble our efforts, so that we can continue our tradition of strong results on bar exams.
7:06, please tell me the school didn't actually send that. Their students are the "prettiest"??? That email wasn't by any chance written by a lonely priest, was it?
8:43, it indeed is a real email from the law school.
Go to fumare dot blogspot dot com and navigate to the entry for December 6, 2007 entitled "Who Wants to Win an iPhone? I Do! I Do!"
Wow, Ave Maria is a 3-year Barbri course.
Ave Maria law students got class credit for protesting at abortion clinics in the 2002-2003 academic year.
The reason U of M students wouldn't see Ave Maria students around town is that the Ave Maria social life is cultish.
Re the move to Fl, this line made me lol: "In short, Ave Maria is an exciting place to live, work, play and learn for every family, every lifestyle, and every dream."> which lifestyles?
I'm from SW FL. All I can say is that most people down here think that the new Ave Maria area is full of weirdos. Most of my friends are Catholic (went to catholic school) and even they think it's weird. No condoms...no gum. WTF?