Over 40% Of Full-Time Faculty Depart West Virginia Law School

Charleston Gazette-Mail, 'My Hand Was Forced': WVU Law School Faculty Depart Amid 'Academic Transformation' Fallout:

Joshua Weishart has called the West Virginia University College of Law home for the past 12 years.

Now, just months after university administrators reduced law faculty by five as part of “academic transformation,” the West Virginia native and WVU alum is choosing to leave the state’s only law school.

“We were not planning to leave,” Weishart said, “and that’s disappointing.”

The Berkeley School of Law graduate and 2016 Law Professor of the Year is one of seven faculty members choosing to part ways with WVU Law outside of the voted cuts. Six of these faculty announced their voluntary departure during the spring 2024 semester.

Before the voluntary departures, academic transformation efforts reduced College of Law faculty to 24. Now, the law school could have less than 20 faculty members [West Virginia reported 32 full-time faculty in its 2023 509 report].

Weishart said he “agonized” over the decision to leave WVU, but felt it was his only option.

“I feel like my hand was forced,” he said.

Law school dean Amelia Rinehart confirmed the seven voluntary departures in an email sent to law students on March 4, one day before the fall 2024 course catalog went live. “No one can be completely surprised that recent events have led some faculty and staff to consider options they were not pursuing 18 months ago,” she said in the email.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage

• West Virginia Law School Faces Major Cuts As Part Of University's 'Unprecedented' Budget Retrenchment (Aug. 15, 2023)
• Board Of Governors Eliminates 143 Faculty Positions At West Virginia University And Law School (Sept. 16, 2023)
• Amidst 23% Enrollment Decline, West Virginia Law School Accelerates Faculty And Staff Downsizing With Buyouts (July 4, 2016)
• Amidst 23% Enrollment Decline, West Virginia Law School Cuts Tuition 44% For Certain Non-Residents (Sept. 20, 2016)