Since DePaul law Dean Glen Weissenberger was let go last week, the blogosphere has been weighing in on the popular dean's ouster. I think the TaxProf blog pretty much summed it up in a headline, stating that the action was "universally condemned".
Students and alumni have also weighed in by creating Facebook groups "Reinstate Dean Glen Weissenberger!" and "DePaul College of Law Community in Support of (former) Dean Weissenberger", and signing petitions to show their support.
Initially, it was reported that Weissenberger was let go because he suggested there were mistakes made to documents sent to the ABA. There may have also been a power struggle between Weissenberger and university Provost Helmut Epp, according to Above the Law.
But the minutes for a June 22 meeting between Epp, university officials and students recently posted to one of the Facebook groups suggest there may have been more to the story.
Check out the minutes from the meeting, after the jump.
According to the posting, Epp opened the meeting by trying to debunk rumors that had been spread about Weissenberger's firing.
Of note is that university officials gave Weissenberger the opportunity to resign, but he refused.
Epp also said that the issue is not if Weissenberger did great things, because he did. The issue is that the he was not an adequate officer of the university as a whole.
Epp stated that:
- Dean Weissenberger consistently spent more than the law school budget allowed, in excess of $1 million. When Epp reappointed Weissenberger, Epp told him not to keep overspending, but Weissenberger continued.
- The Board of Trustees asked the University to be careful about spending money in the wake of the economic depression Dean Weissenberger filled four positions at the law school without permission from the provost.
He also said that Weissenberger's move to contact the ABA was highly irregular and saw it as "making mischief." These irregularities gave Epp and the trustees doubts about the school's accreditation.
There were also issues raised by faculty and students about recently named interim dean Illinois Judge Warren Wolfson. Representatives at the meeting were disappointed that the faculty and the students were not consulted in the decision to fire Weissenberger or to hire an interim dean.
Epp told students that they had “different points of view” on the different roles of Weissenberger, and that students - who started a petition for Weissenberger - can continue protesting or they can choose to work with the administration to help school prosper.
Was Weissenberger fired for being a whistle blower? Is the university going against its own mission? Read the answers to these questions posed by meeting attendees at the original post on Facebok.
Whenever i see the post like your's i feel that there are helpful people who share information for the help of others, it must be helpful for other's. thanx and good job.
Posted by: Masters Dissertation | November 09, 2009 at 01:18 PM
Good article.Very useful an informative.good share indeed.
Posted by: Business Logo Design | November 17, 2011 at 09:34 PM