Gormally Responds To AveWatch
Subject: Your posting about my signing the Petition
Dear AveWatch,
I have to tell you that it did not require particular courage on my part to sign the petition for reinstatement of Professors Safranek, Lyons and Pucillo. I was for 20 years Director of the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics, but I resigned that position at the end of 2000. Between 2001 and 2006 I was a Senior Research Fellow of the Centre and simultaneously held a Research Professorship at Ave Maria School of Law. It was in virtue of holding the latter position, along with the funding provided by the Law School, that I was enabled to continue to work for the Linacre Centre. This arrangement was secured by the kind offices of Dean Dobranski. During my annual visits to the Law School I had ample opportunity to come to know and admire the calibre of its excellent faculty. I have gradually become aware of the strength of the case for saying that Professor Safranek in particular is the victim of a serious injustice. I felt that the least I could do was to signal my solidarity with those who have petitioned for restoration of the employment of Professors Safranek, Lyons and Pucillo. My original impressions of the intellectual and Catholic vitality of Ave Maria School of Law are intimately connected with the character and commitment of those men and their colleagues. I deplore what has happened to them and the consequent damage to the original ethos of the Law School. But I must emphasise that it does not require particular courage on my part to say this. I am now 68, retired from paid employment, and nowadays holding a merely honorary position at The Linacre Centre. Even if I were in paid employment I would not anticipate that the Governing Body of The Linacre Centre would take punitive action against me. I have long had good reason for trusting in the soundness of their corporate judgment.
Yours faithfully,
Luke Gormally.
Gormally Signs Law School Petition
What makes this a story is the courage that it took for Gormally to add his name to this public list. He not only holds a position in the John Paul II Institute for Marriage & Family in Australia, but is also a Research Fellow at the highly regarded Linacre Centre in London. The Centre is directly tied to Ave Maria. Linacre's Board of Governors includes none other than AMSL's Dean Bernard Dobranski, the architect of the aforementioned faculty firings. According to AMSL's IRS-990 (2005), the School gave over $100,000 to the Centre for a "funded senior research fellowship".
Gormally added his name to over 275 other AMSL signatures, creating a powerful statement where the majority of Law School alumni reject the dysfunctional administration of Dean Bernard Dobranski and his conflict-laden Board Chairman Tom Monaghan.
Fabricating An Air of Sexual Harassment
SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas endorsed Ave Maria School of Law at the beginning in 1999. Since then, he has remained its friend and offered speeches and lectures. Maybe Thomas will call the Dean to remind him about the disgrace that goes with weak allegations of physical/sexual harassment and the attempt to derail one's career:
"This is a circus. It's a national disgrace. And from my standpoint as a black American, as far as I'm concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you. You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the US Senate rather than hung from a tree."
- Clarence Thomas; October 11, 1991, speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Anita Hill allegations
Dean Dobranski's perverted twisting of an AMSL staffer's complaint is no less a lynching on Professor Safranek; whether intentional or not, Dobranski's fabricated air of sexual harassment seems clear to any fair-minded person. Safranek and the faculty who "deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas" know all too well that "unless you kowtow to an older order, this is what will happen to you".
This is an affront to higher education, both Catholic and legal. It is also an affront to victims and justice. The Dean's ludicrious interpretation of the complaint discredits the efforts and stories of women who have been - and will be - real victims of physical/sexual harassment and workplace intimidation.
If this incident is an example of the accuracy and objectivity of Dobranski to act as unaccountable fact-finder and judge, how can anyone trust as credibile his behavior and decisions in the "Boys Cherries" incident where civil and canoncial authorities were frustrated in their investigation? (background here; series here). How much of Dobranski's slick and twisted lawyerly wordsmithing is imbedded in his explanation of the matter? AveWatch already demonstrated that much of the explanation was empty. But how many more half-truths and airs are there? For example, when Dobranski says that (emphasis added) "no Law School employee" ever "handled, touched, or possessed" the pornographic hard drive, does that mean that a non-employee at AMSL, like a student, may have done so? This is the level of scrutiny and skepticism that any statement from Ave Maria must be subjected to for an accurate portrayal of a situation. It is no wonder that AMSL co-founder and former Board member Charles Rice called for an independent investigation of the matter.
[clip from AMSL's 2007-2007 Prospectus and
Application]
Intimidation and Uninvited Touching?
You decide. AveWatch shows what is said to be a key basis for Ave Maria School of Law Dean Bernard Dobranski's actions against co-founder and tenured professor Stephen Safranek. Click here or "More.." below. Will you come to the same conclusion?
UPDATE, 8/29/2007 -
+ WhoseAMSOL has an insightful analysis of the timing and policies involved
+ Fumare has commentary
UPDATE, 8/30/2007 -
+ be sure to read Part II: "Fabricating An Air of Sexual Harassment"
+ comment from AW visitor: "Next month Dean Dobranski, as the president of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, will be chairing the annual meeting of that organization around the theme "The Idea of the Catholic University for the Twenty-First Century". One may as well have asked John Geoghan to lead a discussion of the pastoral counseling of youth."
+ hat-tip to Brian Leiter's Law School Reports for link
+ hat-tip to Mirror of Justice for link "Just when I thought things couldn't get worse"More...
Canon Lawyer Calls Monaghan To Task
One of the most prominent canon lawyers in America, Edward Peters, asks "why".
Excerpt: "Tom Monaghan, in contrast, seems to think that his paterfamilias style of philanthropy permits him to show continual scorn for the vanquished, those who dared to question his judgment about various projects, projects to which they, often as much and sometimes more than he, contributed, but in which he allowed them little or no voice."
Full text
AveWatch Calls For Détente/Solution
The Abandonment of Tom Monaghan
Bishop: "AMU not a Catholic University"
It isn't a Catholic school
Over the weekend, the spokesperson for the Diocese of Venice (Florida) was quoted as saying "[AMU] is not a Catholic university. It's a private university in the Catholic tradition."
Only institutions approved by their local diocese can be called "Catholic". This is no trivial matter. It is a measure designed to preserve accountability and chain-of-command with entities that want to be affiliated with the official Church. Surely Tom Monaghan knows this, given the brain trust of high powered Catholics that surround him. Yet, since AMU's inception, Ave Maria has billed itself everywhere as "the first new Catholic university to be built in the United States in more than 40 years". Their website talks about it as a "Catholic environment", "a vibrant Catholic university", and "an institution of Catholic higher education that would be faithful to the Magisterium".
Faithful? AMU's website states further that it "pledges faithfulness to the teachings of the Church" and that AMU "is known for faithfulness to the magisterium of the Catholic Church".
If Tom Monaghan is going to walk the talk, he can begin by ceasing and correcting his incessant and deceptive use of "Catholic university" in marketing his Ave Maria "brand". Your Bishop has spoken, Mr. Monaghan. Will you comply, or is marketing (like unionization) another one of those things "that the hierarchy doesn't know as much about" and can therefore be ignored?
Note of Caution to Diocese of Venice
[L to R] Fr.
William Thomas, Tom Monaghan, Dean Bernard Dobranski
(standing),
Chaplain Michael Orsi (seated), Dean Eugene
Milhizer
Consider the case of Fr. William Thomas. He was an
Ann Arbor area priest who wanted to run with the big
names like Tom Monaghan. Fr. Thomas felt strongly
that his congregation should buy
into having an Ave Maria grade school at his
parish. The proposal was rejected by parishioners
for a host of reasons, not least of which were
strong concerns over Monaghan's burdensome
stipulations for control over nearly every aspect
of the school. Mr. Monaghan is adept at parlaying
the dedication of other Catholics (along with
their financial and intellectual investment) into
furthering the entrepreneurial potential of his
Ave Maria "brand". As Mr. Monaghan says, "If you
can franchise pizza restaurants, why can't you
franchise Catholic schools?" (Sept. 14, 2000).
Ave Maria would later return the favor to this local
priest with the franchisee spirit. Just after the
Diocese of Lansing informed Fr. Thomas that gay
pornography was found on his parish computer - with
some of it appearing to involve boys - Ave Maria
School of Law Chaplain Fr. Michael Orsi offered
Thomas access to their Ave Maria computer staff (see
background and
AW series).
Month's later, AMSL would conduct an internal
investigation to make an assessment for
"wrongdoing". It was an assessment in which
neither the Diocese nor the police had the
opportunity to conduct their own fact finding at
Ave Maria. Also, AMSL's internal assessment -
which Chairman Monaghan likely knew about - was
never fully disclosed to police or the Diocese
despite Ave Maria's access to, and likely
knowledge of, details on the computer's disgusting
contents, as found in the police reports.
Did Chairman Monaghan and Dean Dobranski have any
idea how high the stakes were? It was recently
reported that 85% of those convicted of
computer-based child pornography also admit to having sexually abused
minors. Why did Monaghan and Dobranski not
insist that the Diocese and the police
have unfettered access to Ave Maria for their own
fact finding? When a former Board member and
school founder calls for an independent
investigation of these events, one wonders if
anybody really knows the full story of
Ave Maria's involvement with this priest of the
Diocese of Lansing. Remember, personnel at both
Ave Maria College and at Ave Maria School of Law
had contact with Fr. Thomas about his computer.
Will Ave Maria do it again? In the Diocese of Venice,
will they offer services to Monaghan-friendly
Diocesan priests who are in trouble with the
chancery, and then not fully and immediately disclose
such help? Remember, it was only because of AW's
reporting, and the subsequent public attention, that
Dean Dobranski ever bothered to disclose
anything about the Fr. Thomas case. There is no
evidence that the Dean or Chairman Monaghan ever
sanctioned or reprimanded Chaplain Orsi. Based on
that, one might conclude that the Chairman and the
Dean do not find it problematic for an Ave Maria
employee to offer Ave Maria services to
non-employees who are in trouble. With Chaplain
Orsi scot-free, there is no reason to think that
Ave Maria will change its behavior in the Diocese
of Venice. In AveWatch's opinion, this event also
suggests that Tom Monaghan and Ave Maria
administrators cannot be expected to report
serious matters to the local Bishop or police if
they're not legally obligated to.
For all the faculty who were booted
as the new academic year beings at AMSL, and for
all the legal risk that Orsi invited upon the Law
School through Fr. Thomas, Ave Maria's Chaplain
Orsi seems miraculously secure in his job. As
someone who has flown on Tom Monaghan's private
jet, and has addressed Dean Dobranski as "buddy"
on their Saturday radio show ("The Advocate"),
Chaplain Orsi seems free to do and say nearly
anything without accountability.
For example, consider Fr. Orsi's stance on
immigration - a timely topic,
and one that is hot among Catholics in the Diocese of
Venice. Bishop Dewane, after all, served as Under
Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace at the Vatican before coming to a diverse south
Florida. Listen to Fr. Orsi expound on "those people"
- the ones who, as he says, sing "Jose can you see",
and who try to learn that "boondoggle" of
English-as-a-second language (ESL). The first voice
that you hear in the clip is Chaplain Orsi, AMSL's
"Research Fellow in Law & Religion", a Catholic
priest with a doctorate in Education.
- Orsi on immigration - MP3 #1 (3 min. 29 sec.)
Hopefully, the Diocese of Venice will be able to halt what has been described to AveWatch by local parishioners as a "growing dislike" between "local Catholics" and so-called "Ave Maria Catholics". AveWatch and other interested parties already documented how one cannot simply stroll onto AMU's campus and expect to chat openly or privately with students and employees; such "interviews" are regulated by university policy. When AMU starts issuing its own "Directives" on the priest's posture duing Mass, one wonders the degree to which Ave Maria is trying to exert its own authority within Bishop Dewane's Catholic flock.
UPDATE, 8/23/2007 - Multipe people have written AveWatch to offer examples of "chain of command" issues involving Ave Maria priests. One example, mentioned several times, was a statement supposedly made by Chaplain Orsi at AMSL's fifth anniversary mass where he pointed to Dean Dobranski as "the best bishop I ever had". Was it a joke? Maybe. But, all good wisecracks have an element of truth.
Catholic Education's Version of The Borg
Tom Monaghan has done it quite well, laying claim to the careers, sacrifice, and dedicated work of many Catholic educators, staff, and students.
Despite the rising mass of individuals who are now making known their opposition to Monaghan's conflict-laden approach to higher education governance (1,2,3,4,5,6,7...), relative silence is heard in public from conservative Catholic academic circles.
Well, they'd better wake-up before resistance is futile. New evidence shows that Monaghan's tentacles of influence are reaching beyond his Ave Maria "brand". For an examination of that influence, click "More..." below.
AMSL Co-Founder Rice Issues Statement
August 15, 2007
What Monaghan and Dobranski have done and are doing at Ave Maria School of Law [AMSL] is objectively evil and contrary to Catholic social teaching. No good will come of it. In my opinion, Monaghan and Dobranski, without procedural or substantive justification, have taken the livelihoods of honest and competent professors, with large families, whose commitment to AMSL is, in my opinion, greater than that of either Monaghan or Dobranski. The dismissal of the faculty members is part of a process that can fairly be described, in a non-technical and non-criminal sense, as a hijacking of AMSL by Monaghan and Dobranski. Those who signed on with Dobranski to take the jobs of those unjustly discharged are materially cooperating in evil. Perhaps some were impelled by their own economic circumstances. I offer no personal judgment on any of them or on Monaghan and Dobranski. But I would surely advise any interested parties that it makes sense not to have anything to do with any enterprise in which either Monaghan or Dobranski is even slightly involved. The actions of Monaghan and Dobranski may have made AMSL a terminal case. Its potential has been undermined by the subordination of its interests to other interests and by the subservience of its misnamed Board of Governors to that subordination. The Governors who should have performed their fiduciary duty to AMSL are somewhere in the tall grass to which they lit out when choosing time occurred. I emphasize that I offer no judgment on the motivations or purpose of them or of Monaghan and Dobranski. But it is fair to say that their actions and inactions, in objective terms, are reprehensible, immoral and despicable.
Fumare - comments
UPDATE, 8/15/2007 - America's oldest continuously published national Catholic weekly, The Wanderer, has (again) put the governance of AMSL on its front page (for the week beginning August 16). The large 2-page article chronicles facts and statements quite well. The newspaper states that it covers news "from an orthodox Catholic perspective". Again, AW points-out that the orthodox conservative Catholic base that Monaghan worked in the past is now in open revolt against his practices.
Town Loses Medical Facility Operator
Nick Healy, AMU President, is quoted as saying: "We’ve made it clear from the beginning with any medical provider that would come into the town center that we wouldn’t want them to provide anything immoral to our students". On the topic of finding another provider in the Town who will refuse certain types of medical services to AMU students, Blake Gable of Barror Collier Co. is quoted as saying "If there's an agreement between the university and EPN [another potential provider], that's between them. It has nothing to do with us."
But it has everything "to do with us". Gable's "us" also includes Tom Monaghan, the 50/50 partner in "Ave Maria Development" with the Colliers. Monaghan is AMU Board Chairman and AMU Chancellor, but he is also Collier's partner. Such are the entanglements of business partnerships laden with conflict of interest.
The Florida ACLU is looking into it. This returns to the issue of whether holding an AMU student ID card should trigger denial of anything in the Town, even if it is deemed "immoral" by AMU or the Church. Charles Rice, AMSL's "Gubernator Ejectus", saw this conflict coming. It also raises the larger issue of the University's control over students within the Town, and how incoming Ave Maria School of Law students will react to having their behavior in the Town regulated.
Naples News - full text
Dobranski Credibility Bottoms
Dean Bernard Dobranski shirks his fiduciary duty to attend AMSL Alumni Association Board meetings and answer the questions of these elected stakeholders; yet, he spends 2 hours on the phone doing an interview with the blog "Above the Law: A Legal Tabloid". PART 1 | PART 2
In Part 2 of that interview, in response to the question of whether AMSL's governance is overly influenced by Tom Monaghan's financial support, Dobranski said "If you want to get call it meddling, you can call it meddling, but I think it's proper for the Chairman of our Board, who has been our chief financial benefactor, saying I think our law school would thrive and do better down there [in Naples]."
Meddling? How about "gross conflict of interest"? Dobranski cannot be serious when he talks of Chairman Monaghan's "I think our law school would thrive and do better" as if it were merely a "suggestion" to the Board. Tom Monaghan is not only AMSL Board Chairman and primary donor, but also a speculative Florida real estate developer. The facts are that:
- Monaghan has personal land holdings, for-profit businesses (including the local utility company), and a bank as part of Ave Maria Town's development
- Monaghan had an ultimatum that AMSL move to his Florida development or have the school's money yanked
In the same interview Dobranski said "I'm not ashamed of getting as much money as I can, including from Tom's foundation, to help defray the financial burdens for our students". I bet. But why stop at scholarships. With that thinking, the Dean should get as much money as he can from Tom for faculty salaries, and books, and nice cherry paneling. Those are all "good" too, just like scholarships. But a simply understanding of utilitarianism would show that the goodness of the end does not determine the goodness (or sensibility) of the means. If the Dean has neither the will, the discipline, nor the plain sight to recognize the undue influence that financial dependency on one donor brings to a non-profit academic enterprise, he should step down for putting Monaghan above mission.
The good people at Holy Spirit Catholic Church had the foresight to see that Tom Monaghan "gives" to "get" control; they also had the discipline to reject such a "gift". Dobranski is the only law school dean in the country who is bound to report regularly to one donor, at the donor's office. That bind might bring tuition down via scholarships, but it also brings down autonomy and institutional integrity. It is interesting how those who sell their autonomy to Tom Monaghan demand that everyone else in the organization do the same.
AveWatch issues a public invitation to the Dean: Write a brief piece for AW in which you formally recognize...
- that AMSL Board Chairman Monaghan's for-profit ventures, personal land holdings, and Florida non-profit investment (AMU) will directly benefit from AMSL's move to the Chairman's real estate development;
- that AMSL Board Chairman Monaghan intended to
pull his financial support from AMSL unless it
agreed to move to his real estate development;
It would be even better if Dobranski first explained this to his faculty, students, and alumni instead of AveWatch.
Law School Petition Swells
After only being available for a few days, a petition organized by the Ave Maria Alumni Association's Board of Directors swelled to over 150 alumni supporters. The alumni are calling for "the administration and the Board of Governors to reinstate Professors Stephen Safranek, Philip Pucillo, and Edward Lyons". It is striking that an institution would punt three experienced professors without substantial grounds, and do so just weeks before classes start. This is a particularly reckless act in a professional graduate level education in which both mentoring and clerkships require the direct involvement of established professors.
Excerpt - Their ejection, widely recognized as a purge of faculty that disagree with the administration and Board on issues of governance and decision-making processes, is gravely injurious to our school's mission, seriously damaging to its reputation, and inconsistent with the principles of a Catholic academic community.
Remember, the vast majority of these alumni signatories are orthodox Catholic lawyers (with growing families) who engage both their profession and the wider Church. Tom Monaghan continues to effectively sow the seeds of discord among American conservative Catholics.
Petition here | Comments at Fumare
Priest, Monaghan, Guernsey: Had Plans
[anything look similar?]
InsideHigherEd: Purge at Ave Maria Law
Excerpts:
Safranek said that the law school’s leadership has abandoned not only academic freedom, but Catholic teachings about the dignity of individuals and the importance of treating one another with basic respect. “They are the ones who don’t believe what the faith has to teach,” he said. “We are really the ones trying to maintain the Catholic identity of the institution. They want it to be an offshoot of the Republican Party.”
It’s not only Safranek who has felt punished for speaking out. Richard Myers, a professor of law who was also among the original faculty members, said that when professors voted no confidence in the dean last year and disagreed on the move to Florida, retribution started quickly. Myers was removed from his committee chairmanships and replaced with non-tenured faculty members, even though the posts had traditionally gone to senior scholars. His salary was frozen.
Myers said that one question the ABA and others should consider is the role of the faculty — in whatever state Ave Maria resides. “Is the school a real academic institution where faculty have a role, or is it run on a corporate, sole proprietorship model, where the school is run from top down and faculty are interchangeable employees?”
UPDATE, 8/9/2007 - The Wall Street Journal's law blog picked-up the story late this afternoon.
Dean Runs Amok - Faculty Dumped
Still not convinced that the Law School's administration protects its supporters and dumps those who question it?
Consider the booting of co-founder and Professor Emeritus Charles Rice from the School's Board and faculty - an instance in which (one year ago) the administration went so far as to mail Rice's AMSL office to him rather than allow him on campus during the summer.
Consider another contrast. Co-founder and tenured Professor Stephen Safranek is not only subjected to termination proceedings on thin grounds, but this father of 7 is also suspended without pay and locked-out of his office and email. Compare this to Fr. Michael Orsi, the School's Chaplain and bullhorn-in-residence for supporting Monaghan and Dobranski. Without the Dean's knowledge, Orsi offers the institution's computer resources to help a local priest investigated by the state and Diocese for computer-based child pornography. The Dean finds-out about the help months after the fact - and not from Orsi, but from another employee. That triggers an extensive, and expensive, internal investigation. Meanwhile, Orsi sits next to the Dean week after week, repeatedly making outrageous statements about rape, the culpability of minors, and discrimination on the radio. And for all this, Orsi receives neither a reprimand nor sanction.
Who do Chairman Monaghan and Dean Dobranski think they're fooling?
Finally it should be noted that the 4 men dumped upon by Ave Maria (Rice, Safranek, and the two professors denied tenure) are, when taken together, fathers to 26 children.
UPDATE, 8/9/2007 - The two faculty members purged by AMSL administration have released a statement [hat-tip to Fumare]. They learned just yesterday that the administration put them on "leave of absence"; they will not teach in the upcoming Fall semester. Imagine being an Ave Maria student - whether a new student or a rising student ready for mentor - and learning that THREE of your professors were booted just weeks before classes start. What school with any shred of decency dumps professors in August?
AMSL Board Reels With Change
- Helen M. Alvare, Catholic University of America
- Fr. Joseph Fessio, Ave Maria University
- Fr. Michael Scanlan,
Franciscan University of Steubenville
- Major General John T. Coyne (served as 2006 & 2007 Chair of Monaghan's "Gyrene Gala" fundraiser for AMU in Naples)
- Thomas B. Garlick (managing
partner of a law firm in Naples, Florida; he is
said to practice "primarily in the areas of
commercial and residential real estate, real estate
development, land use law" and others)
Fumare has the full text and commentary
AMU's Ecclesiastical Authority
This document was obtained by AveWatch as a Microsoft Word file. The document's footer says "Approved by the University Council - July 31, 2007". Interestingly, the document's metadata showed that it was created on the same day - "Tuesday July 31, 2007, 3:31pm".
The metadata also showed "author: nhealy". Nick Healy is AMU's President, not the Chaplain.
UPDATE, 8/8/07 - a hat-tip to the well-known Fr. Z who gives his must-read analysis of the aforementioned AMU "directive" (excerpt: "I understand the need for order in the life of an institution. The tone and "directives" here strike me as being both pompous and, frankly, inflammatory.")More...
Ave Maria "Good" For Immokalee?
"For decades, Immokalee, Florida, has been a home away from home for thousands of migrant workers, who come to labor in the area's tomato and citrus farms. But the development of a high profile new Catholic town down the road called Ave Maria may change the face of the region. Will the construction of one town mean the transformation of another? Nik Steinberg reports from southwestern Florida."
The co-founder of the Coalition for Immokalee Workers says:
"They call it, 'changing the face of Immokalee'. When they say 'change the face of Immokalee', they're not talking about remodeling the community or creating more jobs. They're talking about getting rid of the workers who have lived in Immokalee for decades and moving them out."
Latino USA is produced by the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin.
NPR report - MP3
Monaghan's Bank Opens
The article mentions: "The new bank’s chairman is CPA Paul R. Roney, the only director who does not live in Naples." Naples Daily News failed to state why he isn't in Naples. Chairman Roney lives in Michigan where he works as CFO of Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation. NDN also failed to state that Roney is the CFO for Ave Maria University, Ave Maria School of Law, and is Tom Monaghan's business partner in Nua Baile, the company that partnered with Barron Collier Company to make "Ave Maria Development" (AMD) - the developer of Ave Maria Town and a number of businesses orbiting the Town's creation, including Ave Maria Utilities.
In addition to Roney, Tom Monaghan and Timothy Kaiser are also on Shamrock's Board. All three happen to serve together on the board of another for-profit venture, "Ave Maria Financial Corporation".
Is this the vision?: A faculty member receives his paycheck from Tom Monaghan as AMU Board Trustee and Paul Roney as AMU CFO. The professor, an at-will employee, got his paycheck because he followed policies approved by Tom Monaghan (Trustee) and also implemented by Tom Monaghan, who also serves as AMU Chancellor. The professor goes home to his house purchased from Pulte / Ave Maria Development, of which Tom Monaghan is a part owner in AMD. Part of the sale of his house went to benefit AMU via the agreement that exists between AMD and AMU. The professor turns-on the light at his desk, powered by Ave Maria Utilities, of which Tom Monaghan is a part owner through AMD's management of Ave Maria Utilities. He signs his mortgage payment to Shamrock Bank, managed by Paul Roney (bank chairman) and Tom Monaghan (bank trustee). He then writes the check for his children to attend Ave Maria Grammar and Prep School, run by Ave Maria Foundation/College employee Dan Guernsey, and whose Board includes AMU's Fr. Fessio. He also writes a donation to the place where he attends daily mass, Ave Maria Oratory, a place of worship that is "located in the boundaries of the Diocese of Venice, and is not related to the Diocese of Venice" (according to the Bishop, NDN, 3/22/07).
Conflict of interest: a situation when a professional in a position of trust has competing personal or professional interests; when duty to one interest influences decisions in another interest; a conflict of interest exists even if no unethical or improper act results from it.
Naples Daily News: full text
AveWatch: background on Shamrock Bank
Rice Takes AMSL to Woodshed
Excerpt: You all have two choices here. You can continue along the course of irrationality until the inevitable crash. After that crash, each and every one of you will carry the public repute and personal burden of responsibility for that crash and the resulting harm to so many people who trusted you. Or you can do the prudent, fair, and indeed noble, thing. You can get out of the way and let those most directly concerned make the effort, which can succeed, to bring AMSL to its full potential despite the turmoil caused by the destabilization to which your actions or acquiescence contributed.
This is a "must read". Click "More..." below for the full text.
Hat-tip to Fumare. See them for insight and commentary.
UPDATE - story picked-up: Mirror of Justice | Brian Leiter's Law School Report More...
Monaghan-Collier Want Fee Deferral
Interestingly, Ave Maria University already bought 30 of the "affordable housing" residencies.More...
AMU Prof Resigns - Boffetti
Dean Runs Amok - Faculty Speak
Excerpt: "Although the suspension [of Safranek] appears unjust in itself, the Dean's chosen procedures are absolutely lacking in even the veneer of fundamental fairness or due process norms. Indeed, the suspension occurred without deliberation by the full Board of Governors, without faculty consultation, without due process, and without any meaningful explanation as to why the circumstances satisfy the relevant standard of an "extraordinary" case. This abuse of this procedure has effectively stripped Professor Safranek, a husband and father of seven children, of the very security that tenure is supposed to afford faculty members at law schools appproved by the American Bar Association. In our view, these actions (and many others) reveal the extent to which this adminsitration has betrayed the Law School's Mission."
Mirror of Justice full text
UPDATE: Fumare has a helpful graphic to keep track of the incredible shrinking Law School Board of Governors
Dean Runs Amok - Alumni Speak
Alumni Board statement excerpt: Suppression of disagreement is a gravely erroneous basis for terminating a tenured faculty member at a Catholic academic institution. The administration's and Board's views do not command ethical, moral, or religious assent for a Catholic professor. Prominent professors at other law schools have publicly called attention to our school's treatment of disagreeing faculty.
Alumni Board Statement at Fumare
George Resigns from AMSL Board
This is the second Governor to reveal his resignation in the past two days. As with Gerard Bradley, Robert George continues to be listed on the Law School's website as a Board member.
Hat-tip - link from New Advent (the 6th busiest Catholic website in the world, right behind EWTN)
USAToday Article
USAToday full text.