Law Schools

Charleston President Quits After Only 8 Days

Its ownership is still up in the air, and now its president walks off the job.

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We make fun of InfiLaw our fair share, and we make fun of Charleston Law too. But neither trend prepared any of us for this PR debacle.

Maryann Jones has stepped down as the Charleston School of Law’s president after only eight days on the job.

What the deuce? Yep, everyone wants to run far, far away from Charleston these days. I would say “from a sinking ship,” except people were bailing on Charleston long before InfiLaw came calling. Literally, the only guy who believes in this school is Ed Westbrook, which is cute, but seriously?

Two of the school’s three owners, George Kosko and Robert Carr, are in favor of the sale. But Ed Westbrook, the third owner, is pushing to form a nonprofit corporation to run the 10-year-old school, which also is for-profit.

But the owners voted unanimously Nov. 13 to hire Jones as president.

In an email sent late Thursday to Kosko, Carr and [Dean Andy] Abrams, Jones said she decided not to take the reins of the private, downtown law school, and would not sign a contract. “The level of vitriol, with all sides making me a lightning rod for an unfortunate situation that was not of my making, makes this truly a situation that I am unwilling at this stage of my life to undertake.” Jones stated in the email.

And she’s absolutely right. You can’t run a law school when you can’t go raise money, and you can’t go raise money when you explain who owns the place. And Westbrook had made being agnostic about the school’s ownership a condition of her employment.

Westbrook earlier Thursday had sent Jones a letter expressing his disappointment in her speaking to faculty and students in support of a sale to InfiLaw. To get his vote, Jones had agreed to be objective, and to learn more about alternatives for the school, Westbrook stated.

Yeah, that’s unsustainable. Here’s a simulation:

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President: Hey give me money!
Donor: Are you a real law school?
President: Um, let me check. (But no.)

See how terrible that is? Also, I’m starting to feel bad for Westbrook. That dude is fighting the good fight, but also a stupid fight. It’s one thing to defend a law school from private vultures. It’s another thing to defend a consistently underwhelming law school from private vultures. Just let it go, man. You tried to build a solid, community law school. You ended up with a costly institution that leaves almost half its students unemployed. Maybe running a crackerjack law school just isn’t your thing. And yes, InfiLaw schools tend to produce even worse employment results than Charleston, but that’s not a reason to champion a 50-50 employment proposition. Go ahead and extinguish that pride burning in your heart, cash your check, and walk away.

The point is, a people should know when they are conquered. Perhaps its time for Westbrook (and Charleston) to figure this out.

On the other hand, these people were still flying Stars and Bars over the State House until 2000, so maybe figuring out they’ve been conquered just isn’t a Carolina thing.

Maryann Jones, Hired as Charleston Law School President Under Renewable 3-Month Contract, Resigns After 8 Days on the Job [TaxProf Blog]
New Charleston School of Law president steps down [The Post and Courier]

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