DePaul's Firing of Dean Glen Weissenberger Is Universally Condemned

Following up on Friday's post:  DePaul law faculty, administrators, and students, as well as the law prof blogosphere, are unanimously condemning DePaul's abrupt firing of Dean Glen Weissenberger for reporting truthful information to the ABA in connection with its reaccreditation site visit.  Here are some telling comments:

• Brian Leiter (Chicago):  "Who will take the job of Dean at DePaul while Provost Epp remains in office? No one with any academic credibility quite obviously ...  No one serious, or with any self-respect, wants to be Dean of a law school where the Administration behaves capriciously and recklessly .... One imagines that many law schools in the Chicago area, as well as nationally, are looking over the faculty roster at DePaul this weekend thinking about whom they might recruit. ... In the midst of a severe economic downturn, including in the legal market, removing a successful Dean who is, by all accounts, well-liked and respected by faculty, staff, students, and alumni all because the Dean stood up for the interests of his College really defies belief. There is, perhaps, someone at DePaul who ought to be summarily removed from office, but it does not appear to be Dean Weissenberger."
• Mark Wojcik (John Marshall (Chicago)):  "On Thursday DePaul University College of Law in Chicago FIRED Dean Glen Weissenberger, one of the best deans that school has ever had. ... DePaul University, in response to the Dean's truthful disclosure to the ABA Consultant on Legal Education, fired him yesterday. Got that? He sent the letter on June 16th and got fired on June 18th. ... [W]hat WERE they thinking by firing Dean Weissenberger when EVERY LAW SCHOOL DEAN IN THE COUNTRY is going to be visiting their law school NEXT MONTH!!! [at a two-day symposium, Vanishing Act: Legal Education in a World Without Trial, on July 31 and August 1].
• Alberto Coll (DePaul):  "It is with shock and a broken heart that I have received the news of your planned dismissal of our beloved Dean, Glen Weissenberger. The views I am about to state in this letter are shared by every single member of the faculty of the College of Law. I urge you, respectfully and most earnestly, to reconsider your decision and reinstate Glen as our Dean. ...  I urge you, with the utmost respect, please to reconsider and reverse your decision...For the sake of our University, our College of Law, and our Vincentian heritage, I urge you to do so."
• Stephen Landsman (DePaul):  "In what appears to be an arbitrary exercise of power, as well as a potential breach of the accreditation rules of the ABA, it has been decided, without process or respect for dialogue within the community and without any evaluation of the cost to the institution, to remove the Dean of the DePaul University College of Law. This arbitrary and potentially illegal act will, doubtless, cause great damage to the reputation and future of the College of Law. It is likely to jeopardize the reaccreditation of the College of Law."

 Media and blogosphere coverage:

• ABA Journal: DePaul Dean Is Removed, Wasn’t in Synch with Administration, Spokeswoman Says
• Above the Law: DePaul College of Law Dean Ousted
• Chicago Sun-Times:  Weissenberger fired by DePaul University
• Chicago Tribune:  DePaul Removes Law School Dean Glen Weissenberger
• Faculty Letter in Support of Dean Weissenberger
• The Faculty Lounge:  Clash At DePaul Law. Provost Sacks The Dean. Stay Tuned.
• Legal Writing Prof Blog:  UNBELIEVABLE!!! DePaul University College of Law FIRES Its Dean for Reporting Truthful Information to the ABA!!!
• Leiter's Law School Reports: DePaul Provost Ousts Law Dean Without Consulting Faculty, Plans to Appoint an Outsider as Interim Dean
• Leiter's Law School Reports:  DePaul Associate Dean Siegel to Resign Upon Appointment of the Interim Dean
• Petition for the Reinstatement of Dean Weissenberger (382 signatories as of 09:00 6/22/09)
• Student Letter in Support of Dean Weissenberger
• Wall Street Journal Law Blog: What’s Going on at DePaul Law?