Arkansas Legislators Question Why Disbarred Clinton’s Name Added To Law School Chair

Following up on my previous posts (links below):  Washington Times, Arkansas Legislators Question Why Disbarred Clinton’s Name Added to Law School Chair: 

Arkansas lawmakers are asking why a distinguished teaching chair at the state’s law school in Little Rock has come to be named for former President Bill Clinton.

“There’s a lot of folks in academia today who seem to believe they are above the law and can do whatever they want,” said state Sen. Jason Rapert, a Republican. “They don’t think they need to adhere to guidelines or the law, and it seems to have something to do with their mindset and worldview.”

Mr. Rapert’s Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs will meet Aug. 10 to hear why a chair called the University of Arkansas Bowen School of Law’s Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy was recently renamed, after 20 years, the William J. Clinton Professor of Constitutional Law and Public Service.

The change, first reported in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, involves professor John DiPippa, a dean emeritus who has held the seat since it was created in 1999.

In an email the Democrat-Gazette obtained through a public records request, law school professor J. Thomas Sullivan raised a series of questions about Mr. DiPippa‘s sudden attachment of Mr. Clinton’s name to the chair. ...

Another faculty member, Robert Steinbuch, also raised questions about the process. He said neither he nor Mr. Sullivan had received any satisfactory answers from the Bowen administration.

Glenn Reynolds (Tennessee), State Legislators Should Pay More Attention to What Happens At Their Public Universities

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Renaming Of Endowed Professorship For President Clinton Roils Arkansas Law School (June 28, 2021)
• Update On Controversy Over Renaming Endowed Professorship For President Clinton At Arkansas Law School (July 5, 2021)
• Arkansas Legislature To Hold Hearing On Renaming Of Law School Endowed Professorship For President Clinton (July 13, 2021)