National Jurist: Dean Sager's $4.65 Million in Forgivable Loans to Law Profs 'Ripped Apart' Texas Faculty

Following up on my prior posts (links below): A Talent Race Turned Ugly, National Jurist, Feb. 2012, at 16:

Larry Sager's departure as Dean of the University of Texas School of Law at Austin has left many in legal education with their mouths agape. But not because it was surprising that the New Yorker ruffled feathers or even that he was giving out forgivable loans to attract top professorial talent. What surprised the rest of legal academia was the size of the gifts. ... Sager, who was dean for the past five years, handed out 22 loans totaling $4.65 million:

• Larry Sager: $500,000
• Ronen Avraham: $450,000
• Mark Spitzer: $350,000
• Robert Bone: $300,000
• Robert Chesney: $300,000
• Dan Rodriguez: $300,000
• Abraham Wickelgren: $300,000
• David Adelman: $250,000
• Oren Bracha: $250,000
• Justin Driver: $250,000
• Linda Mullenix: $250,000
• Gerald Torres: $200,000
• Willie Foorbath: $200,000

Law professors were outraged over the loans, and the divisiveness over the issue was tearing the faculty apart. ...

Linda Mullenix, who had been at Texas for 20 years, sued  the school in 2010, alleging sex discrimination over unfair compensation. An overwhelming majority of the top salaries were dished out to men over women in the 2010 to 2011 school year. ... [O]ut of the top 25 salaries, which ranged from $351,715 down to $281,077, just four of the top 25 salaries went to female faculty members.

The university settled with Mullenix and agreed to boost her annual compensation by $20,000 per year and provide her with a one-time loan of $250,000. She earned $327,205 in 2010-11.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• University of Texas Law School Dean Resigns Immediately in Wake of Faculty Division Over Compensation (Dec. 9, 2011)
• University of Texas Chancellor Orders Review of Use of Foundation Funds to Pay 19 Law Faculty Over $300,000 (Dec. 12, 2011)
• Leiter on the Turmoil at the University of Texas School of Law (Dec.13, 2011)
• More on the Turmoil at the University of Texas School of Law (Dec. 16, 2011)