Why Did A Top Law School Chancellor Abruptly Resign?

More details in the departure of a prominent dean paint the picture of an overwhelmingly toxic relationship with faculty.

A couple months ago, Chancellor Jack Weiss of LSU’s Paul M. Hebert Law Center submitted his resignation after a rocky 8-year tenure at the school. Perhaps “rocky” is too generous in describing a tenure beset by faculty unrest, allegations of retaliation, and capped by a no-confidence petition. In any event, the departure announcement came clouded with cloak and dagger rhetoric as Weiss claimed to be “blindsided” by the no-confidence petition — signed by 25 of the 33 tenure or tenure-track professors — and his allies among the alums described the faculty as a conspiratorial cabal bathing in the blood of goats between calling for Weiss’s ouster.

Back then, we could only guess at the “unpredictable” strife that brought intra-law school relations to a head. But now, thanks to the investigative work of LSU’s Mallory Richard, we have more information painting the picture of a downright broken faculty-administration relationship that was more than obvious to any observer.

As a reminder, this is Jack Weiss’s position:

“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 in a statement to the Baton Rouge Advocate.

Meanwhile, here’s what we’ve learned since:

Materials prepared in connection with a Spring 2015 faculty retreat, however, suggest otherwise. An agenda for the Spring 2015 faculty retreat dated April 29, 2015, specifically references issues of governance that were discussed at the retreat. Professor Carter, a non-tenured faculty member of the Law Center, also raised several of her frustrations in an email that was considered by the entire Law Center faculty during the Spring 2015 retreat. Among the governance issues raised by Professor Carter were transparency, adjunct faculty appointments, committee appointments, and diversity considerations in appointments.

The concerns raised by Professor Carter were discussed in our original coverage as relating to Title IX, but Professor Carter was then subject to (though she was fighting) a confidentiality agreement and we couldn’t get details. Here’s the scoop from Richard’s article:

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[Professor Carter] explained that she had become increasingly concerned with the lack of diversity amongst the law school faculty – particularly the adjunct faculty. She further explained that such a disparity and the ad-hoc process used to hire adjunct faculty could constitute a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; and LSU Permanent Memorandum 55.

“I was worried that we weren’t providing our students with a diverse faculty and thereby depriving them of skills they need to succeed in practice, but also that we may have been violating federal law,” she said.

Professor Carter chose to voice these concerns during a faculty meeting concerning adjunct faculty appointments—where the faculty was asked to approve the appointment of more than 40 adjuncts, only one of whom was a woman.

“The Chancellor told the faculty that he had a few new candidates he wanted to appoint because he had gotten to know them, they had become good friends, and the Chancellor thought they’d be a good addition to the faculty,” Professor Carter said. “I explained to the Chancellor and the faculty that the process that Weiss had just described has led to a disparate outcome that likely ran afoul of the federal law.” In response to her concerns, Carter said “the Chancellor yelled at me in front of the whole faculty, refused to allow me to continue to voice my concerns in a constructive manner, and told me that he was ‘not getting into it with me.’ It was very disturbing.”

That is indeed very disturbing. It’s also insane that an administration would dump 39 dudes on the faculty and ask for the faculty’s blessing on the strength of becoming “good friends” with them. At least Denver Law had an ostensibly fair formula for reaching a discriminatory impact. I doubt the EEOC looks upon “unchecked cronyism” with much more favor.

Our original report also highlighted the Huffington Post article by LSU students R. Kyle Alagood and Andrew Hairston alleging a lack of diversity and microaggressions against black students and reports that Weiss levied undue pressure on the LSU student newspaper, The Daily Reveille, to apologize for an article about the school’s diversity policies. According to an unnamed professor and signatory to the petition who spoke with Richard for her recent article, these allegations and others weighed heavily in the decision to sign the petition:

I believe that the specific events that finally prompted some members of the faculty to circulate the petition included Jack’s repeated claim that he did not have time during the worst of the budget crisis to do any significant fundraising, his repeated refusal to explain why he did not have this time, his alleged reluctance to address the diversity issue until it became public, his alleged microaggression against black law students (reported by Kyle Alagood ‘15 in the Huffington Post), his alleged bullying of Kenneth Barnes, Jr. ‘15 for reporting a racist incident at the law school to The Reveille, his alleged bullying of various students on The Reveille staff after this article was published, his alleged (and arguably actionable) sexually inappropriate comments at a law review banquet and to some faculty members, and his alleged (and arguably actionable) indifference to several female students’ and faculty’s complaints about sexual harassment and stalking.

And there’s a sad tale, of Weiss vetoing a tenure decision for an internationally-renowned international law expert and cancer patient, cutting off his health care and getting him deported. If true, that’s supervillainy levels of cold.

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Weiss doesn’t concede anything:

“The latest round of charges from the Civilian’s two faculty ‘sources’ are so full of falsehoods and distortions that I can’t possibly respond to them in a Civilian news article. So please just put me down for a general denial.

Then he, you know, did respond to them in a Civilian news article.

I do hope that fair-minded readers of the Civilian will weigh carefully the credibility of your two faculty sources. One of them remains hell-bent on promoting her false claims in every medium that will publish them. Meanwhile, not one of her claims has ever been substantiated. Your other faculty source, whom you’ve dubbed ‘Professor X’, won’t even speak on the record. So your readers have no way of assessing his or her credibility or holding this accuser accountable at all.

Sure, but come on. When 75 percent of the faculty are joining a petition calling for the boss’s ouster, it’s hard to spin the “couple of bad apples” tale. Regardless of whether or not these specific allegations are true, if a manager has lost the confidence of 75 percent of those he’s supposed to lead then it’s just not going to work out and it’s time to, ahem, Geaux.

What’s more important now is that the Board of Trustees get over their love affair with a former Chancellor who struck out and find someone who can actually engage — neither simply assent or combat — the concerns raised by faculty and students. Because if the Board sets out to vindicate their faith in Weiss with a veritable clone, it’s going to be a long few years for on the Bayou.

See the full letter of no confidence signed by 25 faculty members on the next page.

Chancellor Weiss Resigns: PMH Community Responds [The Civilian]

Earlier: Law School Dean Blindsided, Steps Down
Law School Slammed By EEOC For Discriminating Against Female Professors — Potential $1.2 Million In Damages