Alumni: "No Confidence" in Monaghan
Mon, Sep17, 2007 - Category: School of
Law
[Update below]
Earlier today, the official representation for Ave Maria School of Law's alumni (The AMSL Alumni Association Board of Directors) voted to renew its April 2006 call for the resignation of Dean Bernard Dobranski. The Board also voted to add a call for AMSL Chairman Tom Monaghan's resignation.
Excerpt:
"We also call on the Board of Governors to immediately remove their Chairman, as we affirmatively express our “No Confidence” in him as well. As Chairman of the Board of Governors, we believe Mr. Thomas Monaghan has failed to exercise his fiduciary duty to Ave Maria School of Law and has instead encouraged use of the Law School to spur further development in and the growth of Ave Maria, Florida. The development of this town is intimately and directly entangled with the well-being of other entities in which Mr. Monaghan has a financial interest. Despite these significant conflicts of interest, he has apparently failed to recuse himself from Board votes that have promoted his interests in the town of Ave Maria, while continuing to be a strong promoter and proponent of these other interests in the midst of decisions that should properly focus on the Law School’s best interests. This conflicted focus has had the effect of destabilizing Ave Maria School of Law, destroying faculty morale, and devastating the reputation of the Law School in circles of academia, which have resulted in an unprecedented number of transfers of our students to other law schools."
Tom Monaghan's for-profit business-related conflicts of interest include his personal ownership of prime Town real estate and corporate ownership/management in key sectors of Town real estate, businesses (i.e. raw materials for road and home construction), Ave Maria Utilities, control over Ave Maria Town's largest employer (as Chancellor and Board Chairman of AMU), and a new local bank. [AW series on conflict of interest]
Click "More.." below for the Alumni Board's full text, or here for the PDF version. (Comments are at Fumare.)
UPDATE, 10/2/07 - The Alumni's 'no confidence' vote was picked-up by a host of media organizations, including the Detroit News and New Oxford Review. Fumare has links to all the stories here.
Earlier today, the official representation for Ave Maria School of Law's alumni (The AMSL Alumni Association Board of Directors) voted to renew its April 2006 call for the resignation of Dean Bernard Dobranski. The Board also voted to add a call for AMSL Chairman Tom Monaghan's resignation.
Excerpt:
"We also call on the Board of Governors to immediately remove their Chairman, as we affirmatively express our “No Confidence” in him as well. As Chairman of the Board of Governors, we believe Mr. Thomas Monaghan has failed to exercise his fiduciary duty to Ave Maria School of Law and has instead encouraged use of the Law School to spur further development in and the growth of Ave Maria, Florida. The development of this town is intimately and directly entangled with the well-being of other entities in which Mr. Monaghan has a financial interest. Despite these significant conflicts of interest, he has apparently failed to recuse himself from Board votes that have promoted his interests in the town of Ave Maria, while continuing to be a strong promoter and proponent of these other interests in the midst of decisions that should properly focus on the Law School’s best interests. This conflicted focus has had the effect of destabilizing Ave Maria School of Law, destroying faculty morale, and devastating the reputation of the Law School in circles of academia, which have resulted in an unprecedented number of transfers of our students to other law schools."
Tom Monaghan's for-profit business-related conflicts of interest include his personal ownership of prime Town real estate and corporate ownership/management in key sectors of Town real estate, businesses (i.e. raw materials for road and home construction), Ave Maria Utilities, control over Ave Maria Town's largest employer (as Chancellor and Board Chairman of AMU), and a new local bank. [AW series on conflict of interest]
Click "More.." below for the Alumni Board's full text, or here for the PDF version. (Comments are at Fumare.)
UPDATE, 10/2/07 - The Alumni's 'no confidence' vote was picked-up by a host of media organizations, including the Detroit News and New Oxford Review. Fumare has links to all the stories here.
FULL TEXT (also available as a PDF)
Resolution of No Confidence
September 17, 2007
The Ave Maria School of Law Alumni Association Board of Directors hereby formally reiterates its expression of “No Confidence” in the Dean of Ave Maria School of Law, Bernard Dobranski, an expression which was first made on April 10, 2006. The Ave Maria School of Law Alumni Association Board of Directors also hereby formally expresses “No Confidence” in the Chairman of the Board of Governors of Ave Maria School of Law, Thomas Monaghan.
We are calling on the Board of Governors of Ave Maria School of Law to remove Mr. Bernard Dobranski from his position as Dean and President of Ave Maria School of Law because he has not demonstrated an ability to earn or maintain the support of the law school’s most important constituencies: students, faculty, and alumni. In the past, the Board of Governors expressed support of the Dean’s “strong and effective leadership.” We assert, however, that any leadership requires the support of those one is charged with leading. The demonstrated lack of confidence from the faculty, alumni, and student body show the Dean continues to lack such support.
We call on the Board of Governors to request Mr. Dobranski’s resignation as Dean or remove him from his position, and replace him with a Dean who, consistent with American Bar Association standards and requirements, can legitimately claim continual support of a substantial majority of the faculty. Furthermore, consistent with the recently submitted petition regarding Professors Safranek, Pucillo and Lyons (referenced below), the body of faculty that supports a new Dean should include the respected professors who have been recently forced out of the school’s community, as support of Mr. Dobranski cannot legitimately be derived simply from those left standing after the Dean or Chairman has purged and replaced faculty who indicate opposition.
This “No Confidence” action is rooted in the following:
This Dean has:
#1 - Stated that he will not participate in monthly meetings with the duly elected Alumni Association Board of Directors of Ave Maria School of Law, and has not participated in any such meeting since December 2006;
#2 - Failed to build an effective fundraising campaign to financially support the Law School and her mission, but rather, has increased reliance on the primary benefactor rather than reducing said reliance by increasing other means of support, and the questions surrounding his method of governance have resulted in a remarkable decline in the overall percentage of alumni willing to donate to the Law School;
#3 - Failed to remedy the “Fourth Tier” U.S. News and World Report ranking of the Law School, or even embark in a timely fashion on a course to address this collapse;
#4 - Terminated Professor Stephen Safranek, lacking any justifiable cause, having gone so far as to participate in the advancement of an absurd “touching” incident to support such action, and having failed to call for a valid and impartial investigation whatsoever into what have now emerged as painfully thin allegations;
#5 - Failed to provide even the most rudimentary due process to Professor Safranek and communicated in writing that Professor Safranek’s pay was suspended on September 15, 2007 in contravention of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure to which Ave Maria School of Law is “committed” as expressly stated in the Law School employment handbook;
#6 - Forced two outstanding professors, Philip Pucillo and Edward Lyons, onto leave just before the semester began after they were denied tenure, effectively terminating them, in apparent retaliation for their joining with the majority of other Ave Maria School of Law faculty members in expressing a well-founded lack of confidence in Mr. Dobranski’s ability to lead the Law School as Dean, while tenure was granted to professors lacking any superior academic qualifications or credentials who did not hold such views;
#7 - Based on his memorandum of “clarification” dated Friday, September 7, 2007, failed to satisfactorily maintain apparent compliance with the American Bar Association’s standards, with such lack of compliance potentially jeopardizing the Law School’s ability to maintain American Bar Association accreditation.
We also call on the Board of Governors to immediately remove their Chairman, as we affirmatively express our “No Confidence” in him as well. As Chairman of the Board of Governors, we believe Mr. Thomas Monaghan has failed to exercise his fiduciary duty to Ave Maria School of Law and has instead encouraged use of the Law School to spur further development in and the growth of Ave Maria, Florida. The development of this town is intimately and directly entangled with the well-being of other entities in which Mr. Monaghan has a financial interest. Despite these significant conflicts of interest, he has apparently failed to recuse himself from Board votes that have promoted his interests in the town of Ave Maria, while continuing to be a strong promoter and proponent of these other interests in the midst of decisions that should properly focus on the Law School’s best interests. This conflicted focus has had the effect of destabilizing Ave Maria School of Law, destroying faculty morale, and devastating the reputation of the Law School in circles of academia, which have resulted in an unprecedented number of transfers of our students to other law schools.
Students, faculty, and alumni have continually expressed their displeasure with Mr. Dobranski’s and Mr. Monaghan’s governance of this administration. Most recently, a strong majority of alumni, along with many other concerned members of the Ave Maria Law community, signed on to a petition condemning the firing of Professor Safranek and the ejection of Professors Pucillo and Lyons from the Law School community, and calling for a remedy to the situation (the petition and signatories can be found at http://www.helpavelaw.blogspot.com).
With lessons learned from the many and massive fiduciary failures of other institutions in recent years, we trust our Board of Governors will not ignore the myriad concerns expressed here and elsewhere. While other governing bodies and executives have failed to safeguard the best interests of the institutions entrusted to them, we urge our Board of Governors to act. We call on this Board to exercise its fiduciary duty under Michigan law to Ave Maria School of Law and unequivocally distinguish its obligation to the Law School’s best interests from Chairman Thomas Monaghan’s financial interests in Ave Maria, Florida.
The Alumni of Ave Maria School of Law cannot idly permit the further destruction of our Alma Mater (see more negative national press from the Wall Street Journal dated September 10, 2007, http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/09/10/more-trouble-for-ave-maria-school-of-law/, the Mirror of Justice dated September 12, 2007, http://www.mirrorofjustice.com/mirrorofjustice/2007/09/moj-joint-state.html, and the Wanderer dated September 13, 2007 [see here]).
We plead with you Board Members to address these problems as is your moral and legal obligation, to rectify the wrongs that have been done to the community, and to refocus your efforts on the best interests of our Law School.
Sincerely,
The Ave Maria School of Law Alumni Association Board of Directors
Resolution of No Confidence
September 17, 2007
The Ave Maria School of Law Alumni Association Board of Directors hereby formally reiterates its expression of “No Confidence” in the Dean of Ave Maria School of Law, Bernard Dobranski, an expression which was first made on April 10, 2006. The Ave Maria School of Law Alumni Association Board of Directors also hereby formally expresses “No Confidence” in the Chairman of the Board of Governors of Ave Maria School of Law, Thomas Monaghan.
We are calling on the Board of Governors of Ave Maria School of Law to remove Mr. Bernard Dobranski from his position as Dean and President of Ave Maria School of Law because he has not demonstrated an ability to earn or maintain the support of the law school’s most important constituencies: students, faculty, and alumni. In the past, the Board of Governors expressed support of the Dean’s “strong and effective leadership.” We assert, however, that any leadership requires the support of those one is charged with leading. The demonstrated lack of confidence from the faculty, alumni, and student body show the Dean continues to lack such support.
We call on the Board of Governors to request Mr. Dobranski’s resignation as Dean or remove him from his position, and replace him with a Dean who, consistent with American Bar Association standards and requirements, can legitimately claim continual support of a substantial majority of the faculty. Furthermore, consistent with the recently submitted petition regarding Professors Safranek, Pucillo and Lyons (referenced below), the body of faculty that supports a new Dean should include the respected professors who have been recently forced out of the school’s community, as support of Mr. Dobranski cannot legitimately be derived simply from those left standing after the Dean or Chairman has purged and replaced faculty who indicate opposition.
This “No Confidence” action is rooted in the following:
This Dean has:
#1 - Stated that he will not participate in monthly meetings with the duly elected Alumni Association Board of Directors of Ave Maria School of Law, and has not participated in any such meeting since December 2006;
#2 - Failed to build an effective fundraising campaign to financially support the Law School and her mission, but rather, has increased reliance on the primary benefactor rather than reducing said reliance by increasing other means of support, and the questions surrounding his method of governance have resulted in a remarkable decline in the overall percentage of alumni willing to donate to the Law School;
#3 - Failed to remedy the “Fourth Tier” U.S. News and World Report ranking of the Law School, or even embark in a timely fashion on a course to address this collapse;
#4 - Terminated Professor Stephen Safranek, lacking any justifiable cause, having gone so far as to participate in the advancement of an absurd “touching” incident to support such action, and having failed to call for a valid and impartial investigation whatsoever into what have now emerged as painfully thin allegations;
#5 - Failed to provide even the most rudimentary due process to Professor Safranek and communicated in writing that Professor Safranek’s pay was suspended on September 15, 2007 in contravention of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure to which Ave Maria School of Law is “committed” as expressly stated in the Law School employment handbook;
#6 - Forced two outstanding professors, Philip Pucillo and Edward Lyons, onto leave just before the semester began after they were denied tenure, effectively terminating them, in apparent retaliation for their joining with the majority of other Ave Maria School of Law faculty members in expressing a well-founded lack of confidence in Mr. Dobranski’s ability to lead the Law School as Dean, while tenure was granted to professors lacking any superior academic qualifications or credentials who did not hold such views;
#7 - Based on his memorandum of “clarification” dated Friday, September 7, 2007, failed to satisfactorily maintain apparent compliance with the American Bar Association’s standards, with such lack of compliance potentially jeopardizing the Law School’s ability to maintain American Bar Association accreditation.
We also call on the Board of Governors to immediately remove their Chairman, as we affirmatively express our “No Confidence” in him as well. As Chairman of the Board of Governors, we believe Mr. Thomas Monaghan has failed to exercise his fiduciary duty to Ave Maria School of Law and has instead encouraged use of the Law School to spur further development in and the growth of Ave Maria, Florida. The development of this town is intimately and directly entangled with the well-being of other entities in which Mr. Monaghan has a financial interest. Despite these significant conflicts of interest, he has apparently failed to recuse himself from Board votes that have promoted his interests in the town of Ave Maria, while continuing to be a strong promoter and proponent of these other interests in the midst of decisions that should properly focus on the Law School’s best interests. This conflicted focus has had the effect of destabilizing Ave Maria School of Law, destroying faculty morale, and devastating the reputation of the Law School in circles of academia, which have resulted in an unprecedented number of transfers of our students to other law schools.
Students, faculty, and alumni have continually expressed their displeasure with Mr. Dobranski’s and Mr. Monaghan’s governance of this administration. Most recently, a strong majority of alumni, along with many other concerned members of the Ave Maria Law community, signed on to a petition condemning the firing of Professor Safranek and the ejection of Professors Pucillo and Lyons from the Law School community, and calling for a remedy to the situation (the petition and signatories can be found at http://www.helpavelaw.blogspot.com).
With lessons learned from the many and massive fiduciary failures of other institutions in recent years, we trust our Board of Governors will not ignore the myriad concerns expressed here and elsewhere. While other governing bodies and executives have failed to safeguard the best interests of the institutions entrusted to them, we urge our Board of Governors to act. We call on this Board to exercise its fiduciary duty under Michigan law to Ave Maria School of Law and unequivocally distinguish its obligation to the Law School’s best interests from Chairman Thomas Monaghan’s financial interests in Ave Maria, Florida.
The Alumni of Ave Maria School of Law cannot idly permit the further destruction of our Alma Mater (see more negative national press from the Wall Street Journal dated September 10, 2007, http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/09/10/more-trouble-for-ave-maria-school-of-law/, the Mirror of Justice dated September 12, 2007, http://www.mirrorofjustice.com/mirrorofjustice/2007/09/moj-joint-state.html, and the Wanderer dated September 13, 2007 [see here]).
We plead with you Board Members to address these problems as is your moral and legal obligation, to rectify the wrongs that have been done to the community, and to refocus your efforts on the best interests of our Law School.
Sincerely,
The Ave Maria School of Law Alumni Association Board of Directors