Law Schools

ASSLaw Update: University President Finally Forced To Admit That Donation 'Falls Short' Of Academic Standards

It turns out you can't turn running a public school over to the Federalist Society without consequences.

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That smile may be turning upside down soon. (Photo via Facedbook)

When George Mason University, the largest public research institution in Virginia, decided to take $30 million from the Koch Foundation and an anonymous donor in exchange for renaming the school after Justice Scalia, everyone knew the school had at best embarrassed itself — and we’re not talking about naming themselves “ASS Law” — and at worst breached core academic standards.

Now, after pressure from students, faculty, and journalists revealed the depth of GMU’s academic wrongdoing, they’re finally admitting it.

On Friday, GMU President Ángel Cabrera wrote faculty an email speaking generally about private donations to the school. But we all know who they’re talking about. From the Washington Post:

“The agreements did not give donors control over academic decisions, and all but the earliest of these agreements explicitly stated that the final say in all faculty appointments lies in university procedures,” Cabrera wrote. “Yet these agreements fall short of the standards of academic independence I expect any gift to meet.”

It’s a bit of a red flag that the “earliest agreements” didn’t state that university procedures controlled faculty appointments. I mean, where would we be as a society if we didn’t look to originalism?

While the Washington Post story focused on Koch giving across the Mason campus, the organization UnKoch My Campus dug into emails produced in accordance with state FOIA requests and discovered a treasure trove of academic no-nos, concerning the anonymous donor’s agreement giving Federalist Society leadership third-party beneficiary status under the grant:

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The agreement with the anonymous donor provided $4 million per year for five years, conditioned on yearly determinations by the donor and a “third party beneficiary” in their “sole and absolute discretion,” based on “written proposals” prepared by the George Mason Foundation, that the Law School is fulfilling a defined “Mission.” That “Mission” is to “[r]etain focus on the study of Law & Economics…which furnishes the faculty with a common culture” and to “[d]evelop additional related areas of concentration and intellectual leadership such as…constitutional studies, administrative law, and the relationship between law and liberty,” including a new “Center for the Study of the Administrative State” and “Center for Liberty & Law.”

The third party is an entity known as the BH Fund, a group whose president is Federalist Society Executive Vice President Leonard Leo. When Zoe Tillman reported on this late last year, Leo admitted that he was responsible for ensuring the school remained committed to certain principles. While that sounds ominous, he brushed it off with some innocuous platitudes:

Those principles are not all that different from what you would expect from any academic institution: a commitment to academic freedom and a due respect for intellectual diversity and the freedom of expression. And in particular a commitment to excellence.

How sweet? Every campus free speech outrage involves some conservative pundit invoking “academic freedom.” Now we get to see what that really means to them. And apparently it means, as we’ve long argued, that anyone who agrees with them is “free.” From Allison Pienta’s work at UnKoch:

Mr. Leo and the Federalist Society have also been active in sending Dean Butler recommendations and opinions on faculty and Center hires (pp. 51-52, 490-94, 643, 708-9, 736), as well as recommendations for prospective students to attend the law school (pp. 5-8, 728-29). The focus of all of these efforts is on “conservative” faculty, students, and even judicial law clerks. One email shows Mr. Leo sending an email about a faculty candidate “worth reaching out to,” (p. 51-52), and another from Dean Butler to Mr. Leo informs him of someone who “turned us down as new Executive Director of the LEC” despite “all your help.” (p. 736). Mr. Leo also sent Dean Butler a resume of one “student prospect” whose “father is a senior executive at [redacted]” and is “very interested in Mason” (p. 5). An email from law professor J.W. Verret to Jonathan Bunch as well as the Law School’s clerkship coordinator, says: “We are hoping to place Scalia Law Alumni who are current members of our Fed Soc student chapter, alumni who were active in Fed Soc, and other Scalia Law conservative and libertarian alums in federal [judicial] clerkships.” Professor Verret especially wants the “opportunity to get such candidates in front of judges incoming under the new administration…” (p. 731).

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[UPDATE: Verret reached out to note “I make every effort to help our students find jobs.  In this case, I reached out to my contacts in conservative circles.  In other cases, I’ve reached out to my contacts in progressive circles.  I am proud of the fact that I go above and beyond to help my students with their careers.” Except this is kind of the point — because of ethical lapses along the chain, Verret is in the unfortunate position of asking for favors from people with a financial stake in the school’s ideological mission.]

A donor putting funds toward a specific ideological academic mission isn’t necessarily a bad thing… if you’re founding a private school. But George Mason isn’t, and what’s worse, Cabrera repeatedly said this money wasn’t going to give outside, ideological interests control over hiring and curriculum design. And, arguably, these emails are all just friendly bits of advice from a concerned fellow traveler. The problem is this concerned fellow traveler is the appointed gatekeeper for someone providing millions to the school, rendering his advice a bit compromised.

Cabrera has publicly said the “entire gift will fund scholarships.” I think it’s fair to say his email means he’d like to revise and extend those remarks. Needless to say, curing this shortfall in academic standards is going to involve some significant changes.

George Mason president: Some donations ‘fall short’ of academic standards [Washington Post]
The Federalist Society’s Takeover of George Mason University’s Public Law School [UnKoch My Campus]

Earlier: George Mason Law Changing Name To Antonin Scalia School Of Law
#ASSLaw At George Mason Attempts Re-Brand, Will Fail
ASSLaw President Struggles To Defend Name Change
Faculty Really Excited About Worst Name Change Ever

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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