DePaul College of Law: Dean v. Provost Heats Up, ABA Stays Quiet
As we have previously reported, DePaul College of Law Dean, Glen Weissenberger was ousted after he sent a letter to the ABA as part of the school’s accreditation review. At first blush, it looked like a university politics fight between Dean Weissenberger and DePaul University Provost, Helmut Epp. But now it appears that the acrimony between the Dean and the Provost goes all the way to eleven.
Provost Epp held a meeting with DePaul College of Law students, and The Shark reported that notes from the meeting ended up on Facebook. Tax Prof Blog has summarized the main allegations that Provost Epp leveled at Dean Weissenberger:
* University officials gave Dean Weissenberger the opportunity to resign, but he refused.* Dean Weissenberger consistently spent more than the law school budget allowed, in excess of $1 million.
* Dean Weissenberger filled four positions at the law school without permission from the provost.
* Dean Weissenberger’s decision to contact the ABA was “highly irregular” and “making mischief.”
But in this mud fight, the Provost isn’t getting the last word. After the jump, the dean responds to the Provost.
Tax Prof Blog has obtained Dean Weissenberger’s response that he sent to DePaul College of Law faculty. Weissenberger addressed all of the allegations about his record, and had very specific reasons for sending the letter to the ABA:
As to ABA reporting, clearly the Board members have been mislead. I cannot begin here to explain the complexity of the reporting to the ABA regarding the Margin Agreement, but let me assure you that getting this matter right with the ABA will determine our fiscal viability for a long time. That is why when I discovered a problematic aspect of the University’s calculation of the margin, I sent a letter to the ABA. I was told by the ABA that I had a duty to do this, and I advised the provost that I would send the letter. I followed a protocol that I had a duty to follow, and as such, this simply cannot be a basis for termination. Just to point out how slippery these issues are, the provost handed out a spread sheet at the meeting on Monday. I took one look at it and realized that it was not relevant to the issue being discussed. The document referred to BUDGETED income and expenses. The Margin Agreement is based on ACTUAL income and expenses. In fact the whole idea behind the Margin Agreement, is to return actual revenue to College of Law when it exceeds the budgeted revenue. Again, I am deeply offended that this type of disingenuousness is used to mislead the faculty and the trustees.I really don’t want to debate the provost and the president about my record. I am proud of everything we have accomplished in seven years and the record, even with the fabrications, cannot possibly justify termination. I can absolutely assure you that I have never acted improperly as to hiring, the budget or the ABA. What I am guilty of is mastering these areas in a way that threatens those do not want to adhere to the principles of shared governance. I have also demonstrated a leadership style that is fearless in the face of intimidation and bullying.
Read Dean Weissenberger’s full statement here.
Isn’t it about time the ABA said something about this issue? The Dean is essentially claiming that he was fired for reporting something to the ABA that the ABA ostensibly wanted him to report. If that is true, shouldn’t the organization weigh in and say that the College of Law was wrong to fire Dean Weissenberger?
How the ABA handles this will probably affect whether other law school deans come forward to the ABA with information their parent University would rather keep quiet.
Even silence can set a precedent.
More on DePaul’s Firing of Dean Weissenberger [Tax Prof Blog]
conflict between depaul university officials, students over ousted law dean hits facebook. [The Shark]
Faculty Meeting Notes [Facebook]
Earlier: DePaul College of Law Dean Ousted
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Comments
FIRST LOLZ
OLA!
Why wasn't the dean fired for inability to write a brief letter without typos? I mean, the guy writes like Elie.
FIRST LOLZ
The ABA long ago abdicated any semblance of control or authority over legal education, what with its easy come, easy go standards for accrediting new schools to its laughable position on offshoring to its failure to take any lead with regard to issues like making the 3L year actually useful.
5 - Has it right. The ABA is a joke.
Don't they pay secretaries anymore to read letters back to deans?
Kash's asslobster would do a better job as dean than this schlemiel.
ABA might be a joke but their song Dancing Queen rocks.
what a great provosTTT
Yuck mou, Fystal!
Elie:
It is not reasonable to expect the ABA to "say something" on this matter. The ABA's law school accreditation process is designed to be strictly confidential. The ABA will not reveal any of the information it receives from a school, and it will not discuss the information with anyone other than the school's representatives. The information a state school sends to the ABA can sometimes be learned through a FOIA request. This does not apply to a private school such as DePaul. Even when a private school discloses, or when it airs its dirty laundry, such as the case here, the ABA will not breach its duty of confidentiallity.
DePaul? Really?
What's next, some fascinating story on balance sheet amendments at the Mass School of Law? A cafeteria scandal at Law School of the West Indies? Recruiting violations at the University of Phoenix Traffic Ticket Avoidance Program? Click click, bloody click pancakes!
No one cares!
Elie has used GHB to deflower sheep. There is a grainy, but unmistakable video.l
The ABA is a joke of a professional organization. Look at this: http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2009/06/22/daily7.html
WTF is the ABA?
zzzzzzzz..........
FIRST LOLZ
IT GOES TO ELEVEN!
But ten is the highest....
This would never happen at Faber College
9 made me chuckle.
"The Dean is essentially claiming that he was fired for reporting something to the ABA that the ABA ostensibly wanted him to report. If that is true, shouldn't the organization weigh in and say that the College of Law was wrong to fire Dean Weissenberger? "
The ABA need not get into the ultimate decision to fire Weissenberger, but it seems to me that they could at least confirm or deny his version of the story.
I am only speculating here, but if the dean relied upon a promise by the ABA that he DePaul would keep its accreditation if he sent the letter in, shouldn't he have some cause of action under the Restatement of Contracts? Maybe ยง90?
I hear there's been a similar spat between the university provost and the law school dean at John Marshall.
"Except as provided in Rules 6 and 26, all matters relating to the accreditation of a law school shall be confidential. This shall include proceedings and deliberations of the Accreditation Committee and Council and all non-public documents and information received or generated by the Association."
12, 24 -- Since the process is confidential, then fine, the ABA shouldn't comment. However, the ABA could at least release a statement acknowledging that it knows what's going on and that it can't say anything else due to the rules.
Can we all at least agree that Elie should not be pretending DePaul is a real law school? Are there college sports blogs that write about local community colleges?
DePaul,
You can dance, you can jive,
Having the time of your life.
ABA
13,
i loled
I'm just shocked that a law school dean doesn't know the difference between "mislead" (present tense) and "misled" (past tense).
Laser says
Kudo's to the Deano - standing up to bullies.
If the Board, Trustee's, etc., want to fabricate a report they should creat a separate position just for that task.
Call it the Dean of Deans for ABA reporting.
Again Kudomoondo
Laser says
Kudo's to the Deano - standing up to bullies.
If the Board, Trustee's, etc., want to fabricate a report they should creat a separate position just for that task.
Call it the Dean of Deans for ABA reporting.
Again Kudomoondo
26 - go f*** yourself. DePaul's a solid law school with a good reputation in Chicago. If that's the way you think, good luck to you in the future, because you're going to need it
I must agree with the previous comment. This is a fine law school.
We have recruited from several graduates of DePauw University, and they have turned out just as well as the Ivory Leaguers we get from Penn State.
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