Dean Takes Marbles Home w/Alums
Mon, Jun04, 2007 - Category: School of
Law
Earlier today, Ave Maria School of Law's Dean Bernard
Dobranski sent a memo to the the Alumni Board
President complaining that a majority of Alumni Board
officers were "undermining the mission and direction"
of the institution by exercising their prerogative to
voice opposition to the Dean's governance. As such,
Dobranski vows to "curb involvement" with Alumni
"until the situation changes".
Dobranski has the temerity to complain that the Alumni Board called an emergency meeting before the grand press/media event in Florida announcing the school's move -- this when Dobranski and Monaghan engaged in what must have been weeks of planning to showcase the move long before the AMSL Board of Governors even debated and voted on the move (see AveWatch timeline). It is also hypocritical of Dobranski to complain that the Alumni's meeting on the closure of their Michigan campus was "no actual emergency" - this when Dobranski and the Governors had an "emergency meeting" of their own, on a Saturday, to decide to close/move the school. The next business day (Tuesday), there was an elaborate press conference in two states, complete with congratulations from Florida's governor.
Has this become the People's Republic of Ave Maria, where administrators are free to ignore their duties to a significant constituency when that group calls governance to accountability?
For the sake of the Dean's own job, he should recall that dissent from an Ave Maria Board decision - i.e. opposition to the Board-approved firing of AMC employee Katherine Ernsting - does not necessarily make one a hostile subversive bent on undermining the institution's mission - i.e. Dobranski's suggestion of a good labor lawyer for Ernsting and other AMC employees to oppose Monaghan in court.
Full text (PDF)
Commentary (Fumare)
UPDATE, 07/03 - AMSL Alumni Association Board responds
Dobranski has the temerity to complain that the Alumni Board called an emergency meeting before the grand press/media event in Florida announcing the school's move -- this when Dobranski and Monaghan engaged in what must have been weeks of planning to showcase the move long before the AMSL Board of Governors even debated and voted on the move (see AveWatch timeline). It is also hypocritical of Dobranski to complain that the Alumni's meeting on the closure of their Michigan campus was "no actual emergency" - this when Dobranski and the Governors had an "emergency meeting" of their own, on a Saturday, to decide to close/move the school. The next business day (Tuesday), there was an elaborate press conference in two states, complete with congratulations from Florida's governor.
Has this become the People's Republic of Ave Maria, where administrators are free to ignore their duties to a significant constituency when that group calls governance to accountability?
For the sake of the Dean's own job, he should recall that dissent from an Ave Maria Board decision - i.e. opposition to the Board-approved firing of AMC employee Katherine Ernsting - does not necessarily make one a hostile subversive bent on undermining the institution's mission - i.e. Dobranski's suggestion of a good labor lawyer for Ernsting and other AMC employees to oppose Monaghan in court.
Full text (PDF)
Commentary (Fumare)
UPDATE, 07/03 - AMSL Alumni Association Board responds