DePaul Law Saga Aboil

Turmoil continues with new dean

The DePaul law school continues to roil in turmoil even as a state appellate judge has been named interim dean while the administration looks for a permanent replacement for the popular dean it just removed.

Former dean Glen Weissenberger was booted from the post by school officials who said their working relationship with him had deterioriated beyond the point of repair.

Weissenberger has said the dispute was about a revenue-sharing agreement with the law school that he alleged the administration had violated.

Last week students rallied to Weissenberger's aid and started an online petition demanding his reinstatement. More than 500 people have signed.

Weissenberger also has faculty support. According to The National Law Journal, 49 members of ("about") 60 had signed the petition.

"We are all very upset that the administration has taken this position," law professor Len Cavise told the NLJ.

The interim dean is Warren Wolfe, who is currently judge in the first appellate district. His term is scheduled to last two years while the school searches for its next dean.

The school has another problem: the way it appointed Wolfe.

"Stephen Siegel, a constitutional-law scholar, has said he would resign as an associate dean when the university hired an interim dean," the Tribune reports. "While he disagreed with Weissenberger's firing, Siegel said in an e-mail that his resignation is due to the university not consulting with the faculty before hiring a replacement."

"[University President The Reverend Fr. Dennis] Holtschneider and Provost Helmut Epp appear intent on shattering any semblance of faculty participation or privileges in the administration of the law school," noted legal comentator Jonathan Turley writes. "While he is within his rights to take such actions, he has gone out of his way to show little interest in the concerns or contribution of the faculty. The actions will likely damage the standing of the school in the eyes of academics around the country -- at the very time that the school was making steady and impressive progress in its reputation and scholarship."

Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.

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