Law School Dean Blindsided, Steps Down

There's been a shake-up at LSU Law, but can anyone get to the bottom of why?

There’s been a shake-up at one of Above the Law’s Top 50 law schools

On Friday, the Chancellor and Dean of LSU Law Center, Jack Weiss, announced he plans to step down from those roles in August — though staying on the faculty — amid controversy. In his resignation letter, Weiss cites policy differences with members of the faculty that prevent him from continuing in his position:

Unfortunately, however, major policy differences with a vocal segment of the faculty have made it difficult, if not impossible, for me to continue to lead the Law Center on a day-to-day basis and to implement my vision for the Law Center’s future.

As for the substance of the disagreements, Weiss references reunification of the Law Center with LSU, development of an energy law program, and limiting upperclass required courses. All of this seems terribly dull reason to leave a position of power and prestige.

Fortunately, the Baton Rouge Advocate has dug a little deeper. In an email to The Advocate, Weiss discusses the behind-the-scenes machinations that precipitated the move:

[Weiss] heard that a small number of faculty gathered signatures on a document expressing disapproval with him and submitted it to LSU’s provost in May. But he said he’s neither seen the document nor heard specifically what claims those faculty members made against him.

“The entire process took place behind my back without a single faculty member ever seeking to discuss his or her dissatisfaction directly with me,” Weiss said. It was “the adversarial environment the process exemplified,” he said, and not “the unseen document itself” or any claims against him, that made him want to step down.

Finding out some person or persons are plotting your ouster behind your back is never a fun time.

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But it isn’t all backdoor meetings and curriculum changes; there seem to be other factors in play that have some faculty feathers ruffled up. The Advocate reports on allegations of retaliation against a faculty member who filed a sexual misconduct complaint against a colleague, as well as concerns about diversity issues. And given that Weiss has struggled with faculty support since he got to LSU from Gibson Dunn, is this really all that surprising?

First let’s discuss the claims of retaliation against faculty members seeking Title IX redress for allegedly inappropriate comments:

Elizabeth Carter, an LSU law professor who said she’s speaking only in her personal capacity, said she filed a complaint about sexually inappropriate comments made by a colleague.

While she couldn’t elaborate more on her complaint — she’s abiding by a confidentiality agreement she also contests — Carter said in an email that Weiss retaliated against her for filing the claim, even after the accused party “immediately admitted wrongdoing and agreed to an acceptable resolution.”

“Chancellor Weiss has used intimidation, harassment, confusion, denial of rights to participate, and other unjustified and unlawful conduct in an effort to prevent me from raising concerns I have regarding the Law Center’s commitment to diversity and compliance with applicable law and policy,” she wrote, adding his actions have “prevented other people — and women in particular — from filing Title IX or comparable complaints out of fear of retaliation or non-action by Chancellor Weiss.”

Weiss denied engaging in retaliation, “or any other form of illegal gender-based activity,” adding he couldn’t comment further on Carter’s statements because of the school’s confidentiality policies around such filings.

Then there are the diversity issues — something we here at ATL have been hearing rumors of for a few months. In October 2014, two LSU students, R. Kyle Alagood and Andrew Hairston, wrote an article discussing some of the racial issues and microaggressions that, under Weiss, were allegedly allowed to thrive. The Advocate spoke with Alagood, and he also referenced an incident where Weiss supposedly tried to strong-arm the LSU student newspaper, The Daily Reveille, after they published an article critical of the Law Center’s diversity policies:

Alagood said Weiss put pressure on The Daily Reveille’s editor to write a front-page column apologizing for the lack of rigor in articles the student newspaper published last year claiming the Law Center had problems with diversity and inclusion.

Emails provided to The Advocate show Weiss asked The Reveille’s then-editor, Chandler Rome, to “confirm” Weiss would be able to see the notes or recordings of the reporter who wrote the disputed articles, saying, “There is no conceivable privilege that protects those materials.”

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Weiss denies his interactions with the newspaper were inappropriate.

Alagood has made something of a cottage industry rallying against incidents of discrimination at LSU and gathering the publicly available documents on the issues, all detailed on his personal website. Alagood has filed a formal request for the release of the faculty petition that sparked Weiss’s resignation, but the document has not yet surfaced.

There’s a lot in dispute at LSU Law right now, but it is certain that the toxic environment has resulted in at least one career casualty.

LSU Law Center Chancellor Jack Weiss to step down in August, cites ‘major policy differences with a vocal segment of the faculty’ [Baton Rouge Advocate]
Breaking the Code of Silence on Race in Law School [Huffington Post]

EarlierMusical Chairs: Jack Weiss to LSU