Trial Preparations and Full Explanations
As Tom Monaghan and his
Ave Maria generals (including Collier Co. CEO Paul
Marinielli) prepare to be deposed, a few things
are worth remembering:
In a July 20 2007 interview on Fox 2 News (Detroit),
AMSL Dean Bernard Dobranski said that Tom Monaghan
was informed of what transpired when the Law School
offered computer help to a local priest investigated
for child pornography (see BoysCherries series;
hear audio). According to Fox,
Monaghan's Law School chose not to share the
findings of its internal "investigation" with
police "claiming privacy and no fresh
information".
That said, Mr. Monaghan should be considered by
everyone to be a fully informed participant in
the BoysCherries incident. We give him no wiggle room
for claiming lack of understanding of all that
transpired. We trust that he was fully aware
of the fact that at least one of his Ave Maria
College employees was, according to police reports,
in direct contact with the priest's pornographic hard
drive. In the upcoming trial's fact finding, if
anything comes out showing inconsistency,
falsehood, half-truths, or more extensive involvement
of previously named or unnamed individuals, we will
hold Mr. Monaghan responsible for (a) not offering a
complete explanation of the events and (b) denying
the police their right to investigate matters for
themselves. It will be deeply problematic for
Monaghan if there is any whiff that what
transpired was more than what was publicly disclosed;
given the seriousness of the matter, a cloud of
distrust will hover over Monaghan in all things Ave
Maria, including his Town.
An explanation remains open as to how the priest and
his parish supporter - both of whom lacked computer
technical skill - garnered the instructions and skill
to remove the pornographic drive and to
install/format the brand new hard drive.
Before the trial starts, it is also worth considering
Dean Dobranski's boundless tolerance for the
outrageous public remarks made week after week by his
"buddy" AMSL Chaplain Fr. Michael Orsi (1,2,3,4)...
and compare that to Dobranski's harsh and abrupt
termination
of tenured founding professor Steve Safranek
based, supposedly, on thin
and misleading
reasons. Remember, it was Orsi who
invited the BoysCherries scandal upon the
Law School... and it was Orsi who, according to
reports, never even bothered to tell the Dean
about the incident until after Dobranski
was informed by another source.
Dobranski's seemingly insurmountable task is to put
lipstick on the obviously ugly mug of arbitrary
employee treatment, as typified by where Orsi and
Safranek are today. There isn't enough makeup at a
Marco Island community meeting to coverup that boss
hog.
Eisenberg Resigns from Ave Maria Law
Excerpt of Eisenberg's AMSL bio:
"Professor Eisenberg has also served as an attorney for the administrative office of the Judicial Council of California, and has taught at Golden Gate University School of Law, the University of Michigan Law School, and Hastings College of the Law. Her course offerings include Professional Responsibility, Criminal Law, and Law and Literature. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Religious Studies from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, a Master of Arts in English and American Literature from Princeton University, and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School."
Hat tip Fumare (comments)
Bromberg Resigns from Ave Maria Law
Excerpt from AMSL bio:
"[Bromberg] worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the Appeals Bureau of the New York County District Attorney‘s Office. He has taught at the University of Chicago Law School, Stanford Law School, Harvard Law School, and the University of Michigan Law School. He served as the founding Director of Ave Maria School of Law‘s three-semester Research, Writing, and Advocacy Program and currently teaches Property, American Legal History, and Origins of the Constitution. Professor Bromberg holds a Bachelor of Arts with high honors from Harvard College, a Juris Doctor with honors from Harvard Law School, and a Master of the Science of Law from Stanford Law School."
Hat-tip to Fumare (comments)
Falvey Resigns from Ave Maria Law
In October 2006, AMSL Chairman Tom Monaghan asked Falvey to submit, in 45 days, a detailed report on the financial future of the Law School in the events leading-up to the Board decision to move the School to Monaghan's Florida real estate development. That document - referred to as "The Falvey Report" - concluded that (1) Monaghan's financial management of AMSL was destabilizing the institution and (2) that it would be in AMSL's best interest to reduce, not increase, his financial involvement, particularly as it relates to American Bar Association accreditation. He was said to be concerned that AMSL was run de facto as a proprietary law school but that de jure it was not.
Colonel Falvey's brief profile, AMSL website (bio):
"Professor Falvey began his legal career as a Marine Corps judge advocate where he served as either a judge, prosecutor, or defense counsel in more than 280 criminal trials. He later served as Assistant Dean and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. Professor Falvey served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Ave Maria School of Law from its founding in 1999 to 2006. Professor Falvey is a recognized expert in international criminal law. He has drafted rules of evidence and procedure for the International War Crimes Tribunal for Yugoslavia and has written several articles pertaining to international criminal law. He teaches Criminal Law, Evidence, Trial Advocacy, and National Security Law. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame, a Juris Doctor with honors from Notre Dame Law School, and a Master of Laws with honors from the Judge Advocate General‘s School."
[Hat-tip: Fumare]
"More Definite" Motion Denied
Monaghan and the Ave Maria Foundation have 21 days to produce discovery responses. Although no date is scheduled for depositions, late January is the anticipated time frame.
Commentary - Fumare
Tom Monaghan did not have a good week in court. On Friday, the Michigan Supreme Court denied a request by Monaghan in another whistleblower wrongful-termination suit. That suit was filed over three years ago by the former director of federal financial aid at Ave Maria College. Her suit, and the suits of the three law school professors, will now move forward in court as Monaghan and top Ave Maria administrators prepare to be deposed.
Monaghan Files Lawsuit Docs
Lawyers for Tom Monaghan and Bernard Dobranski recently filed responses to the lawsuits of former AMSL professors Steven Safranek, Phil Pucillo, and Edward Lyons (background; series; see also "Dean runs amok" series)
Answers from Butzel Long, filed Nov. 26, 2007 - PDF (3.3 MB)
More Definite Statement Request from Pear, filed Nov. 26, 2007 - PDF (1.6 MB)
Protective Order from Pear, filed Nov. 29, 2007 - PDF (644 KB)
Analysis of the responses will follow in the coming days. A key issue seems to exist over the timing of AMSL's decision to uproot the school to Chairman Monaghan's for-profit Florida real estate development:
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 43:
"In September, 2003, in part due to a feasibility study which had been conducted, the Board decided that it was premature at that time to make a decision to relocate. From September, 2003 until late 2005, the issue of relocation was dormant as far as the Board of Governors was concerned."
But this notion that "the issue of relocation was dormant" for the Board between 2003-2005 contradicts the institution's own press release announcing the move:
+ AMSL PR release (Feb. 20, 2007):
"After almost five years of discussions and research about the feasibility of relocating, the Board of Governors determined that moving to Ave Maria, Fla., will give the Law School its best opportunity to thrive..."
+ Chronicle of Higher Education (Feb. 20, 2007):
"Bernard Dobranski, the law school’s president and dean, said in an interview that its Board of Governors had decided on the move after five years of discussing its options."
The timing is important to establish the influence of Monaghan's real estate development decisions on the AMSL Board, and whether the American Bar Association was given an accurate picture of the school's financial health and the events leading to the decision to relocate to Monaghan's Florida development.
+ Butzel Answer, paragraph 44:
"... defendants AMSL and Dobranski deny as untrue plaintiffs' allegations that Thomas Monaghan acted through Dobranski to manipulate faculty, staff or the Board of Governors..."
+ Problem - Judge James Ryan, a Board member of Ave Maria School of Law and Ave Maria College; statement to faculty, Winter 2003:
"We [the Board] are just here to help Tom spend his money... We all need to remember that this is Tom's enterprise."
"We just do what Tom asks..."
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 47:
"In the application to the ABA [submitted Sept. 10, 2004] for full accreditation, AMSL presented five year budgets which relied upon Ave Maria Foundation subsidies, but the application did not include specific and firm commitments by Thomas Monaghan or the Ave Maria Foundation to fund AMSL at least through the 2009-2010 academic year."
+ Problem - Sept. 10, 2004 + 5 years = September 10, 2009, which is within the 2009-2010 academic year. Are we to believe that the ABA would have granted AMSL full accreditation if it knew that Monaghan was not giving AMSL a "specific and firm commitment"?
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 45:
"Dobranski does not recall whether he told the ABA that there were no plans to move the Law School at the time AMSL was seeking full accreditation. If he did, it would have been a true statement at the time, since there were no such plans."
+ Problem - This is typical Dobranski lawyer-speak. Dobranski appears to think that his and the Board's "discussing its options" with "almost five years of discussions and research about the feasibility of relocating" does not constitute "plans" to move. This would be akin to me saying that I have no "plan" to move to Ann Arbor even though I've interviewed twice for a job at the University of Michigan, met with a real estate agent, applied for preliminary approval with a local mortgage provider, had house plans drawn by an architect, and completed (but had yet to submit) the forms to enroll my kids in Ann Arbor schools. If, in Dobranski's world, "plans" only means the period after a decision is made, one must revisit the same question that AveWatch asked immediately after the February 2007 announcement of AMSL's move to Monaghan's Florida development - How is it that Ave Maria was able to organize a media blitz in two states, a 48-hour home sale in Monaghan's development, and secure congratulations from the Governor of Florida without any business days after the vote? Within days after the announcement there were snazzy videos, beautiful brochures, and statements released from the likes of Robert Bork promoting Monaghan's real estate development and AMSL's move. No "plans"? Yeah, right.
The same brand of Clinton-esque speak was used in the "Answers" document to address the BoysCherries child pornography incident that AMSL invited upon itself. AveWatch thoroughly dissected Dobranski's weak response to that incident here (background; series).
The most disgusting part of "Answers" deals with the firing of tenure-track professors Lyons and Pucillo:
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 78:
".. Dobranski recalls advising plaintiffs Lyons and Pucillo, at the time they were told of their promotion to Associate Professor, that they were making satisfactory progress toward tenure."
When were they promoted? - Lyons in 2005 and Pucillo in 2006. Then, in 2007, AMSL dumped the professors in August, just prior to the semester's start, claiming (paragraph 81) that it was "based on their failure to meet their burden of establishing that they had met the requirements for tenure".
How in the world do faculty members promoted to Associate Professor by the Dean, who are told by the Dean himself that tenure progress is good less than one or two years earlier - and who are endorsed for tenure after review by the institution's Committee on Appointments and Tenure - how do such professors then get denied single-handedly by the Dean in the end?! It should also be remembered that Lyons and Pucillo were not scheduled for an internal appeal-hearing about these matters until after the lawsuit was filed.
In law schools, standard practice is to tell professors of a denied tenure application in February, not August as Dobranski did. A hearing is then typically scheduled within days so that the professors can know with certainty, before the end of the Spring semester, whether the coming year will be their last. In any other reputable institution, it would be the Dean who was terminated in a case like this for not providing adequate warning to professors in a timely fashion such that deficiencies could be corrected. It shows Dobranski as an amateurish Dean who is not beneath the destruction and manipulation of people to send a warning to others who might oppose him. The law school community and Catholic scholars should consider a sanction against Dobranski for such deplorable administration.
On Oct. 23, Deborah Gordon, the attorney for Safranek, Lyons, and Pucillo, filed a Notice of Taking Depositions from Tom Monaghan and Bernard Dobranski on Dec. 17 and 18, respectively. But, to avoid such action, lawyers from Monaghan make an astounding claim:
+ from Motion for Protective Order, Karl Fink, attorney for Monaghan, Nov. 27, 2007:
"... the factual basis for including AMF and Monaghan in this employment case is not readily apparent from the face of the Complaint, other than the obvious publicity bonus that Plaintiffs would like to achieve by sweeping them into the controversy."
So, are we to believe that Tom Monaghan's involvement in AMSL's governance (i.e. employment decisions) and finances - as the AMSL Chairman and principle financier who pulled the school to his for-profit south Florida real estate development - that his involvement in the lawsuit is just a publicity stunt? This is laughable to the point of pathetic. We eagerly look forward to Monaghan answering questions, under oath, about his management of all things Ave Maria, both non-profit and for-profit (including his dealings with the Baron Collier Company).
AMSL Students Act While Deans Ignore
Examples from the student's now-defunct blog can be seen by clicking "More..." below.
The SBA's representatives ("Senators") accused Hamilton of using vulgarities, misrepresenting another student's position, "an obvious breach of honor code", "the condoning of explicit sexual content", and insulting and offending "countless others". One SBA Senator said: "[Hamilton's] high profile has been read by untold attorneys and judges and has cost the school's credibility and quite possibly student jobs many times". At one time, Hamilton's blog was popular enough to be listed in the blog directory at ABA Journal's Law News Now.
It is not newsworthy to report a law student using indiscretion while making statements, or abusing a new position of authority. Of interest is that AMSL's administration - given their preoccupation with "affirmatively injurious behavior" from alumni and faculty who question Tom Monaghan's governance [see also 1,2,3,4] - for all this, the administration left the headache and labor of dealing with Hamilton to the students themselves. According to the minutes from Monday's meeting, the SBA President said "the Administration has been met with and they have made it clear this is a student problem to resolve".
Would AMSL's Dean Bernard Dobranski have taken such a hands-off approach if the student in question employed the same methods to challenge, rather than promote, Tom Monaghan's agenda? The depth of tolerance that Dobranski seems to find for the pro-Monaghan crowd is again exemplified, similar to the passing-over that he gave to the outrageous behavior and statements of AMSL's Chaplain Orsi (see the BoysCherries series here along with Orsi's views on rape, immigration, and discrimination).
It seems obvious to this observer that the ABA's investigation of the environment under Dobranski's watch is once again justified. Dobranski recently blamed the students themselves for not doing well on the Michigan bar exam. Would it ever occur to him that the environment created by him is to blame... that sticking students with the energy- and time-consuming distraction of dealing with an offensive pro-Monaghan student, and the instability of moving to Monahgan's for-profit Florida development, creates a grossly unhealthy academic environment? How pathetic it is that the student President, rather than the institutional President, is the one to show concern for wasted student time and energy by saying ".. people need to focus on mid terms. You 1Ls do not have time for this, and this is a first in the school's history (referencing a call for removal from office), the same goes for the resignation. I have an entire agenda hanging on my board in my office that we have not gotten to."
Indeed, the entire institution appears to have only one agenda of import - that of Tom Monaghan's.More...
Law School Bar Exams: Top to Toilet
As the 2007 Michigan bar examination scores roll in, yet-unconfirmed reports state that Ave Maria School of Law slipped from top in the state to bottom [see story at Fumare]. Who can argue that the decision to close the Michigan campus and move to Tom Monaghan's Florida mega-development has not objectively destabilized a once-successful institution?
Given the rash of firings, Board resignations, massive drop in alumni confidence [1,2], protest by legal colleagues, and intimidation, it is no surprise that the ABA is investigating AMSL's declining environment under Dean Bernard Dobranski. Tom Monaghan's self-interested management, focused on the good of his for-profit Florida real estate development and his Ave Maria Foundation ministry, continues to breed dysfunction for the students, faculty, and alumni of Ave Maria School of Law.
Dean: Faculty Hired "Very Good" Lawyer
"I went to see Dean Dobranski in early 2004, and he proved to be most receptive. He lamented that there was little he could do about my and my wife's employment situation, nor the breaking of [AMC's] institutional promises. But he did suggest I contact a good labor lawyer, and quietly gave me the names of several of them."
In 2004, when Dobranski offered the advice, he may not have feared Tom Monaghan given the soft hand used with Dobranski up to that point. After that time, Monaghan started to exert strong financial coercion on Dobranski's Law School and, subsequently, force AMSL to uproot from success in Michigan to Monaghan's for-profit real estate development in south Florida. In recent years, Dobranski has not only offered Monaghan unquestioned acquiescence to his every whim, but also ruthless treatment to employees and alumni who dare call Monaghan to accountability. Such treatment lead to a lawsuit recently filed against Dobranski and Monaghan by three whistleblowing professors from AMSL.
Irony of ironies. Guess who was one of the "good labor lawyers" suggested by Dobranski to Dr. Beiting back in 2004... Deborah Gordon, the labor law powerhouse who recently filed the suit against Monaghan and Dobranski on behalf of the three AMSL professors. Earlier this week, Beiting told AveWatch:
"Deborah Gordon was one of the three lawyers suggested to me by Dobranksi when I complained to him about Ave Maria's treatment of my wife and I. Dobranski said she was a very good lawyer."
If Gordon made Dobranski's top three for labor lawyers, then he and Tom Monaghan will look awfully silly if they attempt to denigrate her background or integrity as a means to pull growing support for the professors (1,2,3) from fellow Catholics.
Catholicism's Oral Roberts
A central charge against
Robert Roberts, President of ORU, is misuse of
university funds for personal interests. "University
funds" are donations made to a non-profit institution
by supporters; except for some guidelines, donors
relinquish control of their money to a university. It
becomes a university asset.
That is not how Tom Monaghan "gives". In fact, he
does not "give" because he fails to relinquish even
the smallest bit of control. Tax-exempt money from
Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation is circulated back
into his direct control as Chairman/Chancellor at Ave
Maria University (AMU) and Ave Maria School of Law
(AMSL). He even shares the same CFO between the
Foundation, AMU, AMSL, his Florida bank, and his
multiple for-profit Florida businesses (via Nua
Baile). It would be difficult to imagine a
more egregious example of personal interest
driving the misuse of a non-profit than for a
person to shut-down a highly successful school
under his chairmanship in one state (AMSL in
Michigan) and uproot it to his for-profit real
estate development in another state (south
Florida's Ave Maria Town) - a move that directly
benefits his other Florida businesses and his
chairmanship in a pre-existing non-proft
(Florida's AMU) - all while causing chaos for the
once-successful institution and its alumni
(Michigan's AMSL). AMSL's shutting-down in
Michigan and starting-up in Florida may means
millions for Monaghan, from condo sales, to land
appreciation, to more utility hookups (Monaghan
even has a stake in Ave Maria Utilities in Ave
Maria Town). It makes the $800 bathtub that ORU
put into Richard Robert's house look like peanuts.
But given the recent bubble burst in Florida real
estate, Monaghan's land speculation might not make
much in the end. The success of AMSL's move from
Michigan to Florida is predicated on cash from home
sales, not on the Law School's internal success.
Chaining the school's future to unrelated businesses,
a single decision maker, and unrestrained market
forces is the game that this billionaire is playing.
The volatility for AMSL is compounded because
Monaghan has yet to show any hard guaranteed
financial commitment for the school when it gets to
Florida. Institutions of higher education should not
be the toys of an uber-wealthy businessman with a
high school diploma.
Some have argued that Monaghan should be allowed to
"spend his money as he pleases". To do so is to
disregard restrictions on non-profit and for-profit
governance, and the fiduciary obligation to avoid
conflicting interests. Tom Monaghan's giving back to
himself (i.e. from AMF to AMSL), and his use of
non-profits to directly benefit his for-profits, make
him a rogue philanthropist of the highest order. He
demonstrates nicely why a model founded in
self-interest breeds abuse, unaccountability,
dysfunction, and failure.
Commonalities Between
Monaghan/Roberts:
+ At ORU, Richard Roberts is President; the school's
founder, Oral Roberts, serves as Chancellor. Richard
Roberts is also Chairman and CEO of Oral Roberts
Ministries. Tom Monaghan is Chairman of the Ave Maria
Foundation (AMF), an organization that is also run
like a one-person "ministry". Monaghan also serves as
founder/Chancellor of his Ave Maria University, and
as founder/Chairman of Ave Maria School of Law. The
Ave Maria presidents are lawyers under Monaghan's
direct control; these president-lawyers assume an
attorney-client relationship with the Chairman of the
supporting "ministry" (Monaghan-AMF).
+ The recent suits against Roberts and Monaghan were
each filed by 3 fired professors claiming
whistleblower retaliation and breach of contract.
+ The Roberts and Monaghan suits each claimed that
their respective institution's nonprofit status was
violated. Roberts' case involves a political campaign
while Monaghan's involves abusing a Michigan
non-profit (i.e. Ave Maria School of Law) to benefit
Monaghan's other Florida non-profits (i.e. Ave Maria
University), for-profits (i.e. Nua
Baile and Ave Maria Development), and personal
interests (i.e. Monaghan's private
land holdings). See also "Non-profit
Watchdog Aims At Ave").
+ The Roberts suit involves accusations of
inappropriate sexually-related activity on university
grounds, using university resources. The Monaghan
suit involves worse accusations: "In 2006,
Plaintiff Safranek discovered even more disturbing
activity. Based on discussions with law school
employees and reports prepared by the Michigan State
Police, he concluded that certain staff at Defendant
Ave Maria School of Law used their positions and law
school resources to obstruct a criminal investigation
into a priest’s alleged involvement in sex
offenses, including possession of child pornography.
At the time of this involvement of law school staff
and resources in assisting the accused priest, the
matter had been under investigation by the Livingston
County Prosecutor’s Office, the Michigan State
Police, and/or the Michigan Attorney General’s
Office. Defendant Dobranski became aware of the
issue, but refused to alert any law enforcement
agencies of the role Defendant Ave Maria School of
Law had played in possibly obstructing an ongoing
criminal investigation. Plaintiff Safranek filed a
report with various law enforcement agencies
regarding his knowledge of the efforts to obstruct
the criminal investigation into the priest’s
alleged involvement in sex offenses. The actions of
Plaintiffs have led to ever-increasing retaliation,
including disgusting and false smears upon Plaintiff
Safranek’s character." See AveWatch's
BoysCherries story - background,
details,
series
+ Both Roberts and Monaghan have an odd obsession
with money and a personal Divine calling for their
academic enterprises. In 1987, Oral Roberts claimed
that God would kill him if he didn't raise $8 million
for ORU. The recent complaint filed against Monaghan
alleges that a justification for the uprooting of
Michigan's Ave Maria School of Law to Monaghan's
south Florida Ave Maria Town is that "the Virgin
Mary, whom Catholics revere as the Mother of God,
personally directed him to develop Ave Maria Town and
Ave Maria University in Southwest Florida." See
also "Give
For the Good of Your Soul" and "Ave
Maria Cult of Personality".
+ Both Roberts and Monaghan foster charismatic
Christian experiences (public healings through
channeling; being "slain in the spirit"; speaking in
tongues; happy clappy music at liturgy/worship).
+ Despite the small size of their respective
universities, both Roberts and Monaghan conduct
school business using a private jet.
+ Both Roberts and Monaghan appear to lack financial
accountability. The Roberts suit cites many
accusations of university misappropriation for
personal interest - i.e. "The Roberts home has been
remodeled 11 times in the last 14 years. Each time,
Mrs. Roberts demands more changes." Similarly, the
former CFO of AMU said, under oath, "Mrs. Healy [wife
of AMU President Nick Healy] had spent $90,000 using
the College’s credit card in order to furnish
the [President's] house without prior authorization
or knowledge by me." This same CFO also brought to
light a questionable
payment of $240,000 made to AMU's then-Provost
Fr. Joseph Fessio: "When I inquired as to why
there was no liability on the financial statements
for that, I was told [by Ave administrators] that
the liability was, quote, off balance sheet." What
else does Monaghan keep "off balance sheet"? More
on the former CFO's testimony can be found here;
there are stunning accusations of FERPA violations
and preferential treatment given to a
banker-friend to manage Ave Maria student
loans. Many unconfirmed reports of wasteful
spending have been sent to AveWatch, including
multiple reports from former AMU employees that
$30,000 was spent on a dog house for AMU's bulldog
mascot.
+ Within their respective entrepreneurial fiefdoms,
both Roberts and Monaghan appear to have excessive
control over their institution's Board. In the suit,
Roberts is quoted as follows concerning ORU's Board:
"I have the deck stacked - I am elected to three year
terms and if a Regent appears to give me trouble, I
remove him. I stack the deck..." AveWatch readers
will recall AMSL cofounder and former Board member
Charles Rice's controversial removal (1,2,3), as
well as Monaghan's other Board manipulations
(1,2,3,4),
including his use of a small "Executive Team" at
the Ave Maria Foundation to make decisions
for one school based on factors involving another
school.
+ Monaghan and Roberts share tastes in architecture.
ORU has its futuristic Prayer Tower while Monaghan
has his giant Oratory shaped like a salmon steak.
Neither structure is formally recognized as a
Catholic Church. Monaghan wants to build the world's
largest crucifix on his campus while Roberts has the
largest (60-foot-tall) praying hands statue on his
campus. The estimated value of ORU's buildings is
over $250 million, the same amount that Monaghan
claims to be investing into AMU.
Differences Between
Monaghan/Roberts:
+ The ORU Board is not chaired by Roberts
(Oral or Richard). In fact, the ORU Board Chairman is
actively investigating matters using independent
third parties - lawyers and accountants - to review
and audit the allegations. President Richard Roberts
was put on a leave of absence, with his duties given
to a Board member. The ORU Chairman is also communicating directly to
constituents and the local community, recognizing
that "our precious students, faculty, and staff
have all suffered". In contrast, Ave Maria
Foundation, Law School, University, etc. are all
Chaired by Monaghan. His Boards have ignored
multiple faculty and alumni votes of
no-confidence against the AMSL President. In
fact, Ave Maria administrators have initiated a
contemptuous campaign of disengagement
and intimidation (1,2,3,4,5,6,7)
against constituents.
+ ORU is showing transparency by releasing
statements from all involved (including the
allegations) and by hiring independent third party
investigators. ORU's governing board has become
"hands-on". Ave Maria, on the other
hand, ignores calls for independent outside
investigations, releases few details to the
public, and lets Monaghan and his lawyer-president
run unchecked. This includes the crushing of
students
and
alumni who publicly ask for answers and state
opposition to Monaghan's governance and treatment of
employee. Requests from a former AMSL Board member to
secure new
independent investigators for the BoysCherries
scandal were denied.
+ The ORU "Golden Eagle" mascot is related to the
university's location/wildlife on the Oklahoma
prairie. It makes sense. In contrast, AMU's mascot
relates to, and makes sense to, just one person - Tom
Monaghan. The Ave Maria Gyrenes (short for GI
Marines) reflect Monaghan's three years of military
service immediately after high school, 50 years ago
(1956-1959). Of that service, Monaghan said:
"When I was in the Marine Corps, I was aboard a
ship in the Pacific doing something I've always done
a lot of: day-dreaming. I was thinking about my
future, the lifestyle I was going to have, all the
cars and the beautiful home and the yachts and the
airplanes. I wasn't sure it was going to happen, but
it wasn't any fun doing this daydreaming if it wasn't
possible. I saved half the money I made in the Marine
Corps, but it went to a con artist with an
oil-drilling scheme." (Fortune Small Business,
September 2003)
+ It is only a matter of time until Monaghan, like
Roberts before him, goes on the Larry King show to
"set the record straight" (Richard Roberts interview
here and here).
A former insider in the Roberts ministry recently
said "What others may call extravagance, he (Richard
Roberts) may not see as extravagant." (CNN, Oct. 10,
2007). How much more distorted is the perspective of
a billionaire and his ministry?
Benjamin Franklin wrote "Sell not Virtue to purchase
wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power." When will
conservative Catholics stop giving their virtues as
cheap barter to access Tom Monaghan's wealth? When
will students and employees stop giving their
liberties as cheap barter to access his idiosyncratic
self-interested power? Whatever degree of
disconnected megalomania and kookiness that
conservative Catholic supporters of Tom Monaghan
might see in Richard or Oral Roberts, they fail to
see in their own man Monaghan - another entrepreneur
of religion, but with significantly more money, more
control, and less charisma.
Ave Maria Law: Background for Suit
Naples Daily News (Florida) excerpt from article last week:
"The heart of the suit, Gordon said, is Monaghan’s involvement in multiple organizations including those in which he has a financial stake. That involvement violates the law school board’s independence from Monaghan’s “tentacles.”
“We think we can prove the illegal acts by showing the connections between Monaghan, the board and his other organizations,” she said. Gordon said she planned to depose Monaghan, Dobranski and various past and present members of the school’s board, which currently includes high-ranking Catholic Church officials such as, Cardinal Edward Egan, the archbishop of New York and Cardinal Adam Maida, the archbishop of Detroit."
Finally.
This is the itch that AveWatch has been scratching for over a year, and the big story that nobody in the main stream media will mention. Ample evidence demonstrates that, for years, Tom Monaghan has coercively used the Ave Maria Foundation to improperly create and run other non-profit and for-profit ventures that are managed centrally on Monaghan's whim rather than as independent autonomous entities. Through financial coercion, he forces the recipients of his "philanthropy" to put duty to Himself above fiduciary duties to the organization. Tom Monaghan's good supersedes all other duties in these organizations. Monaghan's person, his Foundation, and his for-profit Florida businesses - including his mega-development Ave Maria Town - have benefited at the expense of Michigan's Ave Maria School of Law, Ave Maria College, and their respective alumni, employees, donors, and students.
For a wide-angle view of such evidence, start at AveWatch's "Must Read" and Quotes pages. Individual stories are also categorized by "topic" (i.e. "School of Law") or by "tags" found in the right menu bar's bottom (i.e. "conflict-of-interest").
For a more focused view of the issues specifically mentioned in the Law School suit filed yesterday, consider the following:
Treatment of professors Safranek, Lyons, Pucillo
+ background here; details & developments in series "Dean Runs Amok"
AMSL's help given to a local priest investigated for child pornography, hidden from police
+ background here; details & developments in series "BoysCherries"
Tom Monaghan benefits significantly in ventures unrelated to the Law School by forcing the institution to move to his south Florida real estate development, Ave Maria Town, or face closure.
+ Monaghan personally owns a large section of the Town's prime real estate.
+ Monaghan and his AMSL CFO Paul Roney will benefit significantly by the Law School's move to Florida through the twosome's quiet private for-profit business (Nua Baile), hidden as a partner in Ave Maria Development, the lone real estate business that controls Ave Maria Town.
+ Monaghan is a partner in businesses hand-picked to benefit from Ave Maria Town's growth - from road and home construction materials to condo sales.
+ Monaghan helped start a bank specifically designed to benefit from Ave Maria Town growth (see also)
Ave Maria School of Law may, by design, have no long-term financial plan apart from Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation.
+ Former AMU CFO Speaks : shocking testimony under oath
+ Falvey: Monaghan $ Destabilizes AMSL
+ Dobranski Credibility Bottoms
+ AMSL Financial Stability Questioned
Ave Maria has engaged in questionable financial dealings.
+ Ave Maria Helps Democrat Financier
+ Fr. Fessio's Bank Account
+ AMSL Study Forgets Michigan Tax-payer
+ AMSL Balance Rises on AMF Loan
+ Nicaragua's Financial Aid Irregularities
+ AMU Accreditor Still Fumbling
Tom Monaghan populates his Ave Maria boards with individuals beholden to him.
+ Follow the Money, Find Board Members
+ Catholic Education's Version of The Borg
+ AMSL Board Reels With Change
+ Accreditation, Boards, and Conflicts
+ Healy: The Decision Was Monaghan's
+ Call the Media, *Then* Vote: this is an important story to show how grandiose plans to announce the Law School's Florida move were initiated long before the School's Board deliberated and voted on the move
+ Burtchaell: "Obvious Impropriety"
Ave Maria administrators use a culture of intimidation to maintain Monaghan's control.
+ AMSL Intimidates Honor Student
+ Monaghan Security Watches Professor / Town
+ Woman Kneels Before Monaghan
+ Fabricating an Air of Sexual Harassment; Intimidation and Uninvited Touching?
+ Dean Retaliates Against Whistleblower
+ Ave Prof Complains to DOE / Embassy (also Ave Prof Gets Partial Restitution)
+ Dean Takes Marbles Home w/Alums
+ Admin Thugs Whack Student Critic
+ Admins: School is "Failed Experiment"
+ Monaghan Preps for Supreme Court
+ Fessio Fired
+ AMU Students "Beg" to Leave
+ AMU's "Climate of Fear"
+ AMSL Railroads/Misrepresents Alumni
+ Catholic Social Teaching
+ Faculty Coerced
+ Rice Dismissed
hat-tip: ThePolitic.com
AMSL Intimidates Honor Student
The full text of the student's letter and the administrator's letter are here. Analysis of the Deans' letter is here.
Think of it. Would five Deans at Notre Dame or Harvard Law Schools find the respectful-but-critical comments of a single student so intimidating as to issue a letter to all faculty and students about said student? The AMSL administrators' action only underscores the student's point - that intimidation is used in Ave Maria's governance. The Deans contend: ".. while the author expresses a desire to "bring peace to our school," it is difficult to understand how this goal is advanced by his provocative statements, which are self-evidently contentious and are likely to be divisive." Of course these Deans find it "difficult to understand", just as they also cannot understand why the American Bar Association has an ongoing investigation, specifically, into Ave Maria's unhealthy environment. Heaven forbid that a law student say something that might be "divisive". And even if a student's statement is divisive, so what? Are these Monaghan administrators so insecure that a gang of them must address the student in public, in front of peers? Students at a law school or university cannot be critical of the education that they're paying for? Such petty public action by a group of administrators, against a respected student, is difficult to fathom in a real law school.
Since then, the Student Bar Association's Vice President resigned, and AMSL alumni have issued strong statements to the administrators involved.
[hat-tip to Fumare]
Lawsuit Filed Against Monaghan/AMSL
A PDF copy of the complaint is here. The complaint was filed by former AMSL professors Steve Safranek, Ed Lyons, and Phil Pucillo against Tom Monaghan, Dean Bernard Dobranski, AMSL, and (most interestingly) the Ave Maria Foundation. The complaints involve (summarized):
1) wrongful discharge violating Whistleblower's Protection Act
2) wrongful termination violating WPA
3) tortious interference
4) breach of contract
Relief is also being sought through "an injunction out of this Court prohibiting any further acts of wrongdoing".
Statement from Deborah Gordon:
Three professors from Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria School of Law filed a multi-part complaint against Thomas Monaghan, Bernard Dobranski and associated entities in Washtenaw County Circuit Court on Oct. 17. Monaghan serves as Chair of the Board of Governors and Dobranski is the President and Dean.
The three professors claim that they were removed from their positions in retaliation for their having reported illegal conduct by Monaghan and Dobranski to law enforcement and other governmental agencies, and for refusing to go along with Monaghan's attempts to improperly control the Board by permitting his private, conflicting interests to supersede the best interests of the law school, including his attempt to re-locate the school from Ann Arbor to property Monaghan owns and desires to develop in "Ave Maria Town" Florida. Monaghan has claimed that the Virgin Mary personally directed him to develop Ave Maria Town and Ave Maria University in Southwest Florida.
A faculty vote against the planned move in September 2006 and a vote of "no confidence" in Dean Dobranski in April 2006 have not deterred the illegal, improper activity.
Two of these professors were denied tenure by Dobranski even though they received the unanimous support of the tenured faculty. Tenured Professor Safranek was ejected from the building and his salary and benefits terminated. Dobranski and Monaghan did not even grant him a hearing. The suit alleges Professor Safranek has been subjected to false smears as part of the retaliation effort.
The suit also alleges that certain staff used their positions and law school resources to obstruct a criminal investigation into a priest'Äôs alleged involvement in sex offenses, including possession of child pornography, and that Professor Safranek reported this to law enforcement.
This lawsuit is the latest debacle in the collapse of Ave Maria School of Law. This past summer nearly 1/2 of the faculty fled or were removed from the school. Approximately 40 first year students transferred to other law schools (out of a class of 135), and the quality of the incoming class continued to decline. Dobranski was forced to hire a slew visitation professors and adjuncts to keep the school afloat.
Linked by:
+ Fumare: commentary | Dobranski note to AMSL
+ Wall Street Journal law blog
+ Brian Leiter's Law School Reports
+ Mirror of Justice
+ The Blue Boar blog
+ Bonita News (Florida)
+ Fox News Detroit (video)
Oct 19:
+ The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription)
Michael Novak: Monaghan's Apologist
It is interesting that central command at Ave Maria brand headquarters chose to recruit Novak. To date, Novak has been a prominent face in AMU governance but not in AMSL governance. Novak's decision to jump into a Law School debate, even after admitting that he doesn't have command over the facts at AMSL, makes his recruitment transparent, and subsequently works against the Law School's now-silly claims of "autonomy" and "independence" from the University and its planners. Then again, AMSL's Dobranski was quick to invoke Novak's name in a defense of Tom Monaghan's real estate development, Ave Maria Town, from a questioning Wall Street Journal article two years ago.
In his October 3, 2007 response to MoJ, Novak claims "But I am on the board of trustees of Ave Maria University in Florida..." That came as a surprise to AveWatch. Over the summer, we reported on the restructuring of Ave Maria's Boards into "Trustees" and "Regents", and the subsequent problems this would pose for AMU in meeting AALE and SACS accreditation standards. Throughout the summer, AMU reported only four people on their Board of Trustees (Monaghan, Healy, Sites, and Roney). Now, AMU's website says that 11 others are on the Board of Trustees, including Novak.
AMU's website claims that Novak was appointed to AMU's Board of Trustees "February 2006". Here's an image capturing the text from their website:
But evidence shows that
Novak was a Trustee long before 2006.
Novak was listed as a University Trustee in the
November 2003 issue of "Founder", AMU's
fundraising newsletter (PDF here). He is listed as an AMU
"Director" in their IRS 990 filings for 2002 and
2003. So, Novak was appointed to their Board of
Trustees in 2002, not 2006.
The former Director of Communications for Ave Maria
College reports to AveWatch that Novak has been
flipping on and between Ave Maria's boards
(emphasis added):
"Back in November/December 2004, Novak's alleged
Trusteeship at AMU was a point of controversy. The
Wanderer [a Catholic newspaper] asked me to list my
concerns with Ave Maria's governance for a series
they were doing. I told Dexter Duggan [Wanderer
reporter] to ask if it is true that Nick Healy [AMU
President] had Novak and [Fr. Richard John] Neuhaus
demoted from Trustees to an advisory board, which
left AMU's Trustees without academic credentials on
the Board. Novak told Duggan that I was 'totally
wrong'. So, I called Novak and asked him to clarify
the situation. If I was wrong, why could I not find
his name on the Trustee list? Well, he
explained, he was no longer a trustee,
but a regent."
Other notes to consider:
+ The following individuals were not only AMU Board
Trustees, but also trustees at either Ave Maria
School of Law or Ave Maria College (Michigan): Nick
Healy, Fr. Joseph Fessio, Ralph Martin, Bernard
Dobranski, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Paul Roney, and
Robert George. Given the take-over and closure of the
Michigan-based College and Law School to beef-up
Monaghan's Florida University and for-profit
real estate development, these dual
trusteeships were conflicts of interest.
+ Neuhaus and George currently reside on AMU's Board
of Regents - a Board whose Chair does
not even know with certainty whether it has
policy-making authority or not. Maybe Neuhaus and
George will be recycled back to Trustee at an
opportune time, like Novak. George recently
resigned
from AMSL's Board.
Michael Novak rounds-out his Ave Maria affiliation by
prominently displaying an advertisement for "Ave
Maria Mutual Funds" on every page of his personal website.
If Michael Novak is content to serve as apologist for
Tom Monaghan's governance practices, we're content to
hold him accountable for past, present, and future
actions. We're watching, taking notes, and will be
sure to remind everyone about his pride in Ave Maria
governance in the weeks ahead.
Follow the Money, Find Board Members
+ "The board of trustees has functioned under several handicaps. The most immediate one is a pervasive conflict of interest. The majority of its members are already so beholden to Mr. Monaghan through employment, benefaction, family, or business that they could not be reasonably expected or trusted to offer disinterested and independent advice and judgement on matters... Still further, it needs the presence of other independent and experienced executives and philanthropists who are prepared to join Mr. Monaghan as peers, not clients.."
+ "The chairman, Mr. Monaghan... has followed a well-practiced tradition of close, entrepreneurial management which obliterates the requisite separation between independent governance and professional administration. Besides the obvious impropriety in the governance of an institution of higher learning, this corporation sole will deny Ave Maria any access to further funding sources."
Is there a relationship between being a member of Tom Monaghan's Board and having accepted a benefit from Monaghan? Consider this very incomplete list based on Ave Maria Foundation (AMF) IRS 990s up to 2005:
+ Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York (AMSL Board) & Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Director of Office for Spiritual Development, Archdiocese of New York (AMU Board); AMF Contribution to "Cardinal's Office" Archdiocese of New York = $125,000
+ Anthony C. Rea (AMU Board), Committee Chairman, Papal Foundation; AMF Contribution to Papal Foundation = $89,400
+ Adam Cardinal Maida (AMSL Board), Archbishop of Detroit & President of Pope John Paul II Cultural Center; AMF Contribution to John Paul II Cultural Center = $1,023,100
+ Fr. Michael Scanlon (AMSL Board), former President, Franciscan University of Steubenville; AMF Contribution to Franciscan University of Steubenville = $198,000
+ Ralph Martin (AMC Board), President, Renewal Ministries; AMF Contribution to Renewal Ministries = $14,000; [Update - An AW reader astutely noted that Martin did co-author "The Martin Report", which was critical of certain AMC administrative practices. Martin left the AMC Board shortly after that time.]
Other relationships to consider:
+ NAPCIS, National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools; AMF Contribution to NAPCIS = $174,931; Ave Maria has hosted the NAPCIS meetings for years, featuring Monaghan as speaker; Dan Guernsey of AMF was appointed to the NAPCIS Board; NAPCIS is now moving it headquarters from California to Monaghan's Ave Maria Florida development; the Ave Maria Grammar and Preparatory School run by Guernsey and funded by Monaghan is now applying to NAPCIS for accreditation
+ Fr. William Thomas, former pastor, Holy Spirit Catholic Church (Hamburg, MI); AMF Contribution to Holy Spirit Catholic Church in 2000 = $10,000; in 2001, AMF and Thomas attempted to convince parishioners to start a school designed and run by AMF; Thomas received computer-related help at the invitation of Ave Maria School of Law and Ave Maria College when Thomas was investigated for Internets-based child pornography; that help was not reported to police investigators (background here, series here)
+ Cardinal Newman Society; AMF Contribution to Cardinal Newman Society for the Preservation of Catholic Higher Education = $10,000; in an October 1, 2007 press release, AMU announced that it was chosen by the Society "as one of the best Catholic schools in America for undergraduate students" and stated that AMU students would be shown on the front cover photo of the Society's forthcoming guide to Catholic colleges; keep in mind that AMU just moved to untested unfinished facilities, is not fully unaccredited, is on shakey-ground to continue receiving federal funds, is on its 3rd application for regional accreditation, has suffered high faculty turnover and student transfers, and has been said to have a "climate of fear" by students and parents; the Society gave this honor to AMU despite its Provost stating less than one year ago that "problems" were near "crisis" level, and despite the recent statement by the Bishop of Venice that Ave Maria is not even a "Catholic university"!
Monaghan Security Watches Professor
When Ave Maria School of Law's Dean Bernard Dobranski dumped beloved co-founder and Professor Emeritus Charles Rice, he shipped Rice's office to him by UPS Next Day Service. It was a petty act, to the point of laughable, for the irrational paranoia that it uncovered.
Add to that the following from 27 Sept. 2007:
Seated is Stephen Safranek, the AMSL co-founder and tenured professor who was recently suspended without pay - an act that triggered vigorous protest by the AMSL Alumni Association Board, a majority of the AMSL alumni (see also 1,2), and by a group of prominent Catholic legal scholars. Safranek is being watched in his AMSL office by security guards from Domino's Farms, employees of Tom Monaghan. Safranek was banned from campus at the start of the semester in a systematic attempt to purge the campus of those who would point-out the institution's gross mismanagement (see also 1,2; summary here). AMSL's administration is currently under investigation for violations of accreditation standards.
Ave watch, indeed. What's next, bugged rooms? Is this more of Dobranski's twisted idea of "conditions adequate to attract and retain a competent faculty"?
This is what happens to those Ave Maria employees who stop putting their faith in a failed system dominated by tight central control. It is conservative Catholic scholars, not liberals or heretics, who are now the ones labeled by Monaghan as "academic terrorists". Legitimate respectful objection makes you a "terrorist" to be put under surveillance. What price is the Catholic community willing to pay before it realizes that no amount of money and control from an ostentacious billionaire with a high school diploma can realize the mission of the Church in higher education? Violating human dignity is not necessary to promote human dignity. Those who are anxious to view Monaghan as a savior and protector of Catholic principles must start realizing that "domestic tyranny" is as great as any threat from outside the Church.
UPDATE, 10/2/07 - Visitors to Fumare have offered first-hand accounts to corroborate the aforementioned. Also, from Fumare's comment box, former Ave Maria College Dean Dr. Christopher Beiting had this to say:
I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned the fact that Dobranski has long had a hidden camera in his office, monitered by Security in Domino's Farms. I learned it through one of my former students at AMC, who worked for Alpha Omega for a while, and was surprised, to say the least, to discover it. If memory serves, Dobranski even acknowledged this fact when asked about it in one of these town meetings of his.
So. Security teams AND hidden cameras. All combined with a prediliction for making people "unpersons" when they step out of line. And all of this in a setting where people still have to answer to regular law agencies. Now, riddle me this, what are things going to be like in Avemariaville, with its special administrative district status, where those mountebanks will *control* the law? What will life be like in a town where something like Alpha Omega security will really BE the police?
In the beginning of my fight to help preserve AMC, I never wished for AMU to fail, and I resent Monaghan for assuming that I and others were so motivated when we weren't, let alone characterizing us as "academic terrorists". But now? Oh, heck yeah. As nearly as I can tell, Avemariaville will develop with the worst features of a bananna republic and Calvin's Geneva, though absent the high-quality education.
You want to see the future of Avemariaville, folks?
Take a good, hard look at the Avewatch picture of Safranek.
Now ask youself whether you want yourself, or anyone you love, to live under such conditions.
Contact AveWatch if you have first hand knowledge of excesses or irregularities in Tom Monaghan's oversight of security.
Alumni: "No Confidence" in Monaghan
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.More...
Catholic Legal Scholars Spank AMSL
Excerpts:
"The AMSL administration has violated several procedural norms of the secular academy. In this case, we see no tension between those norms and the norms of faith and reason that should guide a Catholic law school. Indeed, what has happened at AMSL appears to us to violate core Catholic norms."
"In suspending the one tenured and two untenured faculty members, AMSL has deprived them of the dignity of their work – their vocation – without adequate process. And, in suspending the tenured faculty member without pay, AMSL has failed to take into account the well-being of that faculty member’s family."
"By the failure to live their Christian commitment, the AMSL Dean and Board cause scandal in the legal, academic, and religious communities. This scandal is exacerbated by the fact that their actions are taken on behalf of a law school named for the Blessed Mother of Christ."
Signatories:
+ Robert John Araujo, S.J., Boston College Jesuit Community
+ Stephen M. Bainbridge, William D. Warren Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
+ Thomas C. Berg, St. Ives Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota)
+ Patrick McKinley Brennan, John F. Scarpa Chair in Catholic Legal Studies, Villanova University School of Law
+ Richard W. Garnett, John Cardinal O’Hara, CSC Associate Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
+ Elizabeth R. Kirk, Associate Director, Notre Dame Center for Ethics & Culture (formerly a member of the Ave María Law School faculty)
+ Eduardo M. Peñalver, Associate Professor, Cornell University Law School
+ Michael J. Perry, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
+ Mark A. Sargent, Dean and Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law
+ Michael A. Scaperlanda, Gene and Elaine Edwards Family Chair in Law, University of Oklahoma College of Law
+ Elizabeth R. Schiltz, Associate Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota)
+ Steven Shiffrin, Charles Frank Reavis, Sr. Professor of Law, Cornell University Law School
+ Gregory Sisk, Orestes A. Brownson Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota)
+ Susan J. Stabile, Robert and Marion Short Distinguished Chair in Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota)
+ Robert K. Vischer, Associate Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota)
This is a very important pivotal moment that shows the true unity that uniquely binds both Catholic scholars and the community of academic legal professionals. Let's see if the as-of-yet-silent "Fellowship of Catholic Scholars" shows a fraction of the character and authentic fellowship on display at Mirror of Justice.
How many good people - from students, to employees, to estranged colleagues, to well-respected professionals in the field - how many need to shout "Enough!" before Tom Monaghan puts his pride aside and recognizes that he is destroying the very thing that he claims to be upholding?
Mirror of Justice - full text | Fumare - commentary
UPDATE, 9/13/2007 - Frontpage headlines in today's issue of The Wanderer (subscription required): "At Ave Maria Law School.. Professor 'Terminated' For 'Touching' Secretary". It discusses the railroading of AMSL co-founder and tenured Professor Stephen Safranek [1,2], and quotes heavily from Fumare's comments [1,2].
UPDATE, 9/14/2007 - Media coverage about the Mirror of Justice statement is spreading: Chronicle of Higher Education News Blog, Naples Daily News (syndicated to Bonita News and Marco News), Catholic News Agency, ABA Journal [1,2], Brian Leiter's Law School Reports, Professor Bainbridge, Univ. of Cincinnati's TaxProf, Professor Greg Reynolds' Instapundit, Mark Shea, PrawfsBlawg,
5pm - add Commweal Magazine blog, Blast Furnace Canada blog
Dobranski Misrepresents ABA?
On August 30, this puff piece was released by Monaghan neocon apologist Brent Bozell [1,2] on his "news" website - "Ave Maria School Weathers Critics, Moves Forward, Says Dean". The (self) interview included softballs like:
Q - "Tom Monaghan earned about $1 billion when he sold Domino's Pizza, and a large chunk of that went into the Ave Maria Foundation. Is it fair to say that the Ave Maria School of Law and all it provides - jobs for faculty and administration, scholarships for students, and a top-notch law education - would not exist were it not for Tom Monaghan?"
A - (Dobranski excerpt) "Oh, absolutely - first of all, it was his idea. It was his vision."
The notion that AMSL was Tom Monaghan's "idea" and "vision" contradicts Dobranski's own version of the founding of AMSL from Fall 2004 (University of Toledo Law Review, 36 U. Tol. L. Rev. 55): "In our first year, among those on the faculty were four of the original five founding faculty who suggested the creation of a new Catholic law school to Mr. Monaghan in 1998" and "Mr. Monaghan's interest in starting a law school at this time had been stimulated by a group of five faculty members from the University of Detroit Law School.."
In the puff piece, Dobranski also attempted to make the point that ABA accreditation standards support the current exclusion of faculty from institutional decision-making processes. He conveniently failed to cite the ABA Standard that says "Except in circumstances demonstrating good cause, a dean should not be appointed or reappointed to a new term over the stated objection of a substantial majority of the faculty." [Recall that the AMSL faculty voted no-confidence in Dobranski's leadership.] The central issue is NOT whether the faculty should have been given a larger say in the Board's decision to move to Florida. The central issue is that one person, Tom Monaghan, used financial coercion to make the Board impotent, requiring that duty to his personal interests be placed above those of institutional interests; as such, the Board was never in an autonomous position to determine the institution's destiny. [see also Fumare]
The Bozell article was only part of the Dean's campaign for headlines. In mid-August, he started creating an air that all is well at AMSL with the exception of a few bitter power-grabbing faculty who simply don't want to move [1,2]. Later, on August 24, Dobranski sent this email to the AMSL community. In Dobranski's typical lawyerly fashion, he used carefully chosen words to paint the image of an ABA that is close to dropping its investigation of the school's sub-standard administration.. an ABA that only remains interested in a small technicality involving "undisclosed" faculty complainers. That email was later supported in public by Dobranski's Bozell article:
Q - "So, the ABA has essentially given you a fairly clean bill of health?"
A - [Dobranski] "Yes, there's one item - and when you throw enough mud, something likely will stick. And what stuck was this one thing about faculty leaving. I'm very confident we'll be able to respond to this one concern. We will have no trouble convincing them that we are able to recruit new faculty - that's not a difficulty. But what's very interesting is that there's nothing about governance, shared responsibility, or academic freedom, which were the thrust of the complaints."
No problemo? On Friday September 7, the Dean released a terse email to the AMSL community "in the interest of clarifying my August 24, 2007 statement regarding the ABA inquiry". Dobranski cut/pasted the verbatim request from the ABA to AMSL for "all relevant information necessary to demonstrate compliance" with an ABA Standard involving faculty.
Why would Ave Maria - an organization that has never felt obligated to inform its constituents of administrative matters - release such a verbatim "clarification" using quotes from the ABA? Did the ABA tell Dobranski to clear-up an air of misrepresentation?
Dobranski really stepped in it; his aforementioned "clarification" was a red flag to journalists (including AW). A lead news article in today's Chronicle of Higher Education reads "Ave Maria School of Law May Face Threat to Accreditation". Yesterday's Wall Street Journal Law Blog reads "More Trouble for Ave Maria School of Law". The story was also picked-up by Michigan Daily and Mirror of Justice.
At minimum, Dobranski's September 7 "clarifying" shows that his statements - and the conclusions that he extrapolates from the statements of others like the ABA - cannot be trusted. Likewise, we should reconsider Dobranski's ability to accurately draw conclusions from statements that he read in the Safranek and Fr. William Thomas incidents.
h/t Fumare
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...
AveWatch Calls For Détente/Solution
The Abandonment of Tom Monaghan
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.
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
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...
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)
Bradley Resigns from AMSL Board
AveWatch attempted to contact Bradley earlier this month concerning the help provided by the School to a local priest investigated for child pornography. AW asked Bradley and other Board members if they approved of the handling of the matter by Dean Bernard Dobranski and Chairman Tom Monaghan. All Board members declined comment.
This begs several questions - Who is really on AMSL's Board of Governors as of today? Why does the Law School website still list Bradley? Who does the AMSL community contact for answers on accountability concerning the administration's many recent self-inflicted crises:
- failure to report to the police that AMSL offered and provided help to a child pornography suspect
- failure to discipline or sanction Chaplain Orsi for offering the aforementioned help to a person not employed by AMSL
- failure to discipline or sanction Chaplain Orsi for comments embarrassing to the institution [1,2,3]
- failure to respectfully treat AMSL co-founder and tenured professor Stephen Safranek, leading to further institutional embarrassment with legal colleagues and students/alumni
- failure of Dean Dobranski to garner confidence in his leadership among faculty and alumni
- possible failure to follow accreditation standards, resulting in an ongoing ABA investigation
Dean Runs Amok
Tonight, multiple unconfirmed reports to AveWatch state that Professor Safranek has now been banned from access to his office, the Law School grounds, and his School email account - all without being formally terminated and without due process. His pay and benefits will, apparently, be suspended in September.
Any faculty, staff, students, alumni, or Board members who wish to make a statement can do so through AveWatch's contact form.
Contrast the treatment of co-founders Charles Rice (Professor Emeritus) and Stephen Safranek to that of Chaplain Fr. Michael Orsi. How is it that someone like Orsi - who has behaved with shocking carelessness [1,2,3] and invited controversy upon the Law School - receives not even a reprimand or sanction from Dean Dobranski nor Chairman Monaghan? It is no coincidence that Chaplain Orsi is reported to be the loudest non-administration "yes man" for Monaghan on AMSL's campus. This is the Ave Maria culture on display for the world to see - If you put duty to Tom Monaghan's whim above every other duty and obligation, you will be protected. If you say that duty to Mr. Monaghan is not synonymous with duty to institutional "mission", then you become a target. That is the internal rot bred by an institution laiden with administrative conflict-of-interest.
It is time for the Board of Governors at Ave Maria School of Law, and the School's entire community, to stop this embarrassment and say "Enough."
Fumare comments here and here
UPDATED, 7/29/2007 - statement released by Professor Kevin Lee (click 'More..' below)
UPDATED, 7/30/2007 - letter of suspension from Dobranski (released by Fumare) confirms the aforementionedMore...
BoysCherries - Orsi on Discrimination
The following brief fair-use clips are from the October 14, 2006 AMSL radio show. The primary topic is discrimination on the basis of weight.
Background: Michigan is the only state to specifically prevent discrimination on the basis of weight. The state's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act [PDF] was significantly amended in 1976. Now §202(i) of the law specifically states that an employer shall not refuse to hire or recruit, discharge or otherwise discriminate against an individual because of weight (or religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height or marital status). This law was used in the 2005 case of Pasanski v. Continental Rental Inc. Steve Pasanski was discharged from his position as a store manager. He weighed 360 pounds. Pasanski claimed that his employment was terminated because of his weight, and he won $284,000 in damages.
The incredible carelessness with which Chaplain Orsi conducted this conversation on discrimination - along with his sophomoric ensemble of Ave Maria administrators and personnel - gave AW the impression of bias against overweight individuals. Who would think that this kind of twaddle came from a law school - much less a Catholic law school - on an issue like discrimination? In AW's opinion, the tone is insulting, irresponsible, and a liability waiting to happen. This embarrassment should be near the top of a Board-sponsored independent assessment of institutional injury at the managerial hands of Dobranski and Monaghan. The first voice that you hear in each clip is Chaplain Orsi, AMSL's "Research Fellow in Law & Religion", who is a Catholic priest with a doctorate in Education.
Listen to the clips in order:
BoysCherries - Orsi on Immodest Dress
The following brief fair-use clips are from the October 28, 2006 AMSL radio show. The primary topic is the Australian Muslim mufti who blamed women for inciting rape by their choice of dress. It is beyond AW's comprehension that Dean Dobranski and Chairman Monaghan would ever allow Orsi back behind a Ave Maria microphone after these comments. The first voice that you hear in each clip is Chaplain Orsi, AMSL's "Research Fellow in Law & Religion", who is a Catholic priest with a doctorate in Education.
Listen to the clips in order:
BoysCherries - Orsi on 16 yr. olds
AveWatch has questioned the prudence of AMSL's decision to not report its direct involvement with Fr. Thomas to the police. AW has questioned Chaplain Orsi's decision to allow months to pass without Dean Dobranski's awareness of the help Orsi offered... and all with no apparent sanction or reprimand against Orsi for inviting difficulty upon the School. AW is interested in understanding the factors that might contribute to the persistent, but now seemingly untenable, belief that Fr. Thomas genuinely sought to preserve the contents of his computer hard drive... contents that Ave Maria School of Law should have discovered as a bevy of vile adult gay pornography and simulated child pornography during its internal investigation of the matter.
AveWatch is a long-time follower of "The Advocate", a weekly call-in radio broadcast featuring Chaplain Fr. Michael Orsi and Dean Bernard Dobranski. The broadcasts are heard in the Ann Arbor local market, but are available for free, in their entirety, as both a download and as a stream from the Law School's website. Given these outlets, one assumes that the show is a point-of-pride for the School.
AveWatch already reported that Chaplain Orsi is an outspoken public advocate that ordained gay priests not be put under "one strike, you're out policies". But what of victims? Some of Orsi's comments from the radio show are disturbing, in our opinion. The attached podcasts are short fair-use excerpts from the show on October 7, 2006. They discuss the culpability of the 16 year old boys in the Rep. Mark Foley 2006 sex scandal [1,2]. ABC News also reported that Foley asked for oral sex and explicit photos from a 17 year old page in 2002. The first voice that you hear in each clip is Chaplain Orsi, AMSL's "Research Fellow in Law & Religion", who is a Catholic priest with a Doctorate in Education.
Listen to the clips in order:
BoysCherries - Ugly Reality
AveWatch has gone to great trouble to be technically accurate in its account of the help provided by Ave Maria School of Law to a local priest investigated for child pornography. It is true that no criminal charges were filed against Fr. Thomas; the suspected child porn was located in an unallocated sector, which is not prosecutable. But, what was found "preserved" on that computer?... and what does it say of individuals who today persist in maintaining that Fr. Thomas' genuine intention in seeking Ave Maria's help was to preserve information that would establish his innocence?
The following is explicit. Use your own judgement.More...
Legal Colleague Questions Dean-Board
Scaperlanda excerpt: Dean Dobranski, are you willing to step aside as dean and humbly join the faculty, if that is what it takes to heal this broken community? Dean and Board, to the extent that you have fallen short, are you now willing to treat the Faculty – as sharers in the law school’s governance – with respect and dignity? Where you have acted inappropriately, are you willing to humbly ask forgiveness?
MoJ letter
BoysCherries - Response to Dean
UPDATE, 7/21/2007 - Fox News Detroit, AMSL storyMore...
BoysCherries - Who Should Call Police?
"Ave Maria Law School entangled in porn scandal"
"Priest directed computer staff to 'scrub' hard-drive"
The Law School's Dean, Bernard Dobranski, didn't like the word 'scrub', claiming the link to be "defamatory".
What is the Dean's support for defamation? Click below to review these matters and read the Dean's fax to NOR.More...
BoysCherries - Founder Wants Probe
Media Update:
+ 7/12/2007 - Fox News Detroit (Channel 2) - video
+ 7/17/2007 - New Oxford Review cites story in News Headlines
BoysCherries - Ave Involvement
Bob & Judy Zabik are parishioners at Fr. Thomas' Holy Spirit Parish. Mrs. Zabik served as Acting Principle of the parish school and served as the Chair of the Finance Committee for five years. Statement:
"Our last conversation with Fr. Thomas was after the 11:00am Mass on the last Sunday that he said Mass at Holy Spirit. Fr. Thomas told us that he was having someone at Ave Maria help him replace his hard drive. He didn't tell us who, and he didn't tell us which Ave Maria entity, and we didn't ask. Fr. Thomas also spoke about "getting a new brain" for his computer at his homily in that Mass."
"I mentioned Fr. Thomas' comments about Ave Maria to Patrick Flynn. It is my understanding that, eventually, news of this got to Ave Maria Law School, and the Dean of the Law School contacted Patrick looking for names and dates."
Patrick Flynn, the parish employee who first discovered and reported the pornography also said:
".. after Father Bill [Thomas] went lakeside, Dean Falvey [Ave Maria School of Law] called me at my office. He wanted to know if I knew any more about Father possibly taking his computer to AM [Ave Maria]. I told him that I did not. I only knew what he told the parishioner and that he did not specify which AM entity he was headed for. Falvey sounded sincerely upset that the Law School could quite possibly have been abused in this way."
Other evidence pointing to Ave Maria's likely involvement:
+ The police incident report states "Pavlock stated that he was told by Father Thomas that Father took the hard drive and he gave it to Dr. Silva at Ave Maria College in Ann Arbor. Pavlock stated that Dr. Silva had the hard drive for a short period of time before he shipped it back to Father Thomas."
+ AveWatch has a protected source who reports knowing that Fr. Orsi admitted to directing Law School IT staff to Fr. Thomas.
+ AveWatch received the following statement from Robert Falls, Monaghan's PR agent, corroborating that the Law School's Chaplain, Fr. Michael Orsi (also an assisting pastor at Holy Spirit Church) was involved:
"Each and every allegation concerning the incident in question -- which is not accurately portrayed in the article--was fully and thoroughly investigated by an outside law firm (the same law firm that has been widely praised for its recent internal investigation into the death of a student at Eastern Michigan University) and no wrongdoing by any person connected w/AMSL was found to have occurred--specifically including Father Orsi or anyone in the IT department."
The law firm mentioned here is Butzel-Long, Tom Monaghan's long-time legal representation. Why would Butzel-Long do an internal investigation at the Law School, and Falls specifically mention Orsi and the IT department if, in fact, they had no contact with Fr. Thomas about his computer?
Ave Maria School of Law and Ave Maria College must clearly state whether any of its employees were involved in the handling or offering of help to Fr. Thomas while he was under investigation by police. If Ave Maria was involved, they must also state the nature of that involvement and why such involvement was not reported to the police.
BoysCherries - Statement Released
Excerpts from Flynn [clarification in square brackets; emphasis added]:
"Father Thomas [the priest in question] is sitting up in his cottage in Bear Lake collecting full pay and benefits from the Parish while still bearing the title, Pastor after what he has done. And I who, for the welfare of the children of the church, did only what was right, am harassed, insulted and ultimately terminated without a source of income to support my wife and seven children."
"According to the attorney for the Diocese, Michael Murray, Bishop Mengeling told Father [Fr. Thomas, the priest in question who was helped by Ave Maria School of Law] to return to the parish, get all that material off the computer and behave properly and do not retaliate against the whistle-blower."
"According to a parishioner, several days before his [Fr. Thomas'] departure, Father expressed an intent to bring his computer to Ave Maria (he did not specify which entity) and have the hard drive erased."
Again, AveWatch asks - Why didn't Tom Monaghan, Chairman of the Board at Ave Maria School of Law, report his institution's involvement to the police?
AveWatch also calls upon AMSL's Board of Governors to state if it is their position that Chairman Monaghan and Dean Dobranski acted appropriately by not insisting that all involved Ave Maria employees immediately report to state investigators; obtained police reports found no indication of any statement offered by any Ave Maria employee.
Ave Maria School of Law Board of Governors:
+ Professor Helen M. Alvaré
Professor of Law, Catholic University of America
+ Professor Gerard V. Bradley
Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame
+ Mr. Peter A. Carfagna
Senior Counsel, Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP
+ His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan
Archbishop of New York
+ Professor Robert P. George
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
+ Mr. William F. Harrington
Chairman, Bleakley Platt & Schmidt, LLP
+ His Eminence Adam Cardinal Maida
Archbishop of Detroit
+ Mrs. Kate W. O’Beirne
Washington Editor, The National Review
+ Dr. Michael M. Uhlmann
Visiting Prof. of American Government, Claremont Graduate University
Flynn Statement - PDF
BoysCherries
"...it is necessary that I address with you the matter of the appropriate use of law school resources by faculty members. Ave Maria School of Law resources, including the Law School email, may not be used... for any other activities or purposes that are intended to or are reasonably likely to undermine or damage, tangibly or intangibly, the successful operations of our Law School."
Question -
Is it a violation of the Dean's "appropriate use" rubric if an AMSL employee directs the School's Information Technology (IT) staff to offer consultation to a non-employee concerning computer files and their storage and erasure? What if that non-employee was a local priest under investigation for child pornography?
UPDATE, 7/10/2007 (2:30pm EST) - The wife of the parishoner who first discovered and reported the computer pornography makes a statement.
UPDATE, 7/10/2007 (4:45pm EST) - To facilitate media requests, background information on some aspects of this story can be found in the following Michigan Dept. of State Police "Incident Numbers":
- 012-0005383-05(DB) (there is also a search warrant with this number)
- CCU-0000156-05 (FU)More...
Students/Alumni Rise for Safranek
Excerpt from one letter:
I have no comprehension why a man who has sacrificed and dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the students of Ave Maria would be subjected to a less than dignified removal. If these rumors are in fact true, I would sincerely hope that you and the rest of the administration would look at your own actions in light of our law school’s mission. I have now observed countless criticisms by this administration charged at alumni and the alumni group I have now become a part of at attempting to destroy the law school. If speaking up for the proper respect and human dignity of those within our community is wrong, then I went to the wrong law school or went to one where the mission has become nothing more than merely words with no meaning. I believe that not to be the case, but I would consider such an act against Professor Safranek to be an act in a reign of terror and a seriously flawed application of the mission of Ave Maria within its own administration.
Click below to read some of the letters sent to AMSL Dean Bernard Dobranski. Also of interest is Dobranski's response to these concerned students and alumni.
UPDATE, 7/8/2007 - More letters are coming-in to AveWatch. Visitors - please take the time to read them. These young articulate Catholic lawyers ARE "the mission" of the Law School... and now that mission speaks as a powerful testament to AMSL's administration. More...
Dean Retaliates Against Whistleblower
On Monday, Ave Maria School of Law's Dean Bernard Dobranski attempted to censure and begin dismissal proceedings against tenured professor Stephen J. Safranek, a founder of the school. Professor Safranek was involved with the faculty's complaint to the school's accreditor, has filed a complaint with law enforcement against Dobranski, and recently called for a renewal of the faculty's earlier "vote of no confidence" in governance.
Professor Safranek has worked in prestigious law firms, and clerked for Judge O'Scannlain on the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has been admitted to practice before federal courts, including the US Supreme Court. He has numerous publications and is the Executive Director and Founder of The True Marriage Project, an extension of Safranek's interest in "helping to ensure the survival and growth of the institution most critical to society, the family".
Safranek is in good company. Recall that another Law School founder, Professor Emeritus Charles Rice of Notre Dame, was also terminated by Dobranski and booted from the Law School Board for questioning institutional governance and the legality of Monaghan's proposed Florida town concept. Ave Maria's history of firing whistleblowers is well-known.
More will be posted as this story develops. See Fumare for commentary here and here.
UPDATE, 6/28 - A friendly hat-tip goes to Mirror of Justice for picking-up this story. It is worth noting that the Mirror of Justice post was made by Mark A. Sargent, the Dean of the Villanova University School of Law for the past ten years.
UPDATE, 8/1 - for a summary of all AveWatch.org posts on Professor Safranek, click here.
Dean Takes Marbles Home w/Alums
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
Director of Development Resigns
Letter full text (PDF)
Admin Thugs Whack Student Critic
A 2006 graduate of Ave Maria School of Law documents how school administration obstructed his Bar admission, apparently based upon the student's criticism of management. Excerpt:
As you already know, I had passed the Bar Exam in July 2006 but my Bar admission was held up because I had not received character and fitness clearance from the State Bar. Back in October 2006, I wrote to tell you that I suspected that something was not right. I was suspicious in part because on March 30, 2006 I had received an anonymous threatening e-mail, which, among others things, stated:
"How do you expect this law school to sign off on your character and fitness if you criticize every move that the Dean and the faculty, who sign off on your character and fitness, makes. Think about it. I assume you are knowledgeable of this requirement."
It was at this point that I learned that the Ave Maria School of Law Administration had composed (what one reviewer described as) a vicious 10-page memorandum about me, which was accompanied by 56 separate so-called exhibits (totaling more than 250 pages in all), and submitted it to the State Bar’s Character and Fitness Section.
It should be noted that during my time as a student at Ave Maria School of Law I was a strong believer, defender, and follower of the Law School’s stringent Honor Code and was in fact never formally disciplined by the Law School – academically or otherwise. Moreover, as you are all aware, the Law School faculty certified my character and fitness, allowing me to graduate last May 2006.
Accordingly, after the close of my informal interview with the District Committee panel, I received a unanimous favorable decision within 10 minutes.
Hat-tip to Fumare.
Dobranski: Money Not The Reason
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Said Mr. Dobranski: "We've done well here [in Ann Arbor]. We've thrived here. But I think we will thrive even more there. If there wasn't a financial benefit, I'd still be enthusiastic about moving because it will provide the law school with such a unique opportunity."
So, the Dean is so sold on AMU and the Town that he'd uproot the School even without Monaghan's still un-documented "promise" to share home-sale proceeds with the School?! This is big news.
The Dean's central motivation and rationale are slowly being revealed. His aforementioned statement reinforces the notion that he and the Law School Board have been acting on pretense - that the decision to uproot the School to Mr. Monaghan's Florida real estate development is not, in fact, based primarily on the School's financial benefit in the deal.
The basis for the move appears to be peeling down to one foundational reason - because duty to Tom Monaghan's desire supersedes all other duties of the institution. As Judge James Ryan, one of Monaghan's Board members, said in a room full of faculty among other nodding Board members: "We [the Board] are just here to help Tom spend his money," and "We all need to remember that this is Tom's enterprise." (New Oxford Review, Sept. 2003)
Chronicle - full text (subscription login required), or try also
Click below for excerpts.
UPDATE, 5/11/07 - Be sure to also note how the Dean has: denied the existence of the Falvey Report [1,2]; denied that the ABA was investigating his administration; contradicted himself repeatedly on how long the Board has been considering a move to Monaghan's real estate development More...
Law School Dean Appreciated
But was Dean Dobranski always one of the compliant yes-men who Tom Monaghan seems to surround himself with?
Says former Ave Maria College Dean of Students Dr. Chris Beiting:
I did confide my frustration with the situation at Ave Maria College to Dean Dobranski of AMSOL.
A lot of people look back at me as one of the organizers of the attempts to save the College and its people, but I was really just following the helpful suggestions of other people, most notably Dean Dobranski.
... we couldn't have done any of it [legal action against Monaghan and his Board] without the help of Dean Dobranski. In a sense, he made it all possible.More...
Admins: School is "Failed Experiment"
- Association of Ave Maria Faculty, excerpt from statement, 4/30/07
Several weeks ago, Ave Maria School of Law Dean Bernhard Dobranski held a "town hall meeting" for AMSL students. According to students at the meeting, the Dean stated that "at least two members of the Board of Governors expressed their opinion that the Law School was a 'failed experiment'." The Dean's intentional public leak of such sentiment comes on the heels of a memo to all employees and students in which he said, "Naturally, activities that are affirmatively injurious to the Law School during the course of one's employment at AMSL are not acceptable." [full memo]
For all of the administration's threats against any kind of "affirmatively injurious behavior" in the move to Tom Monaghan's Florida real estate development...
For all the false accusations that the faculty are the ones attempting to start a "new" school rather than protect their existing school...
For all this, could there be anything more injurious to the school's future existence than the Dean spreading the notion that some Board members find the school "failed"? How are prospective students, existing students, employees, donors, and institutional accreditors to respond to this?
More...
Law Faculty Take Unified Public Stand
Such threats [against the faculty]... would be chilling in any atmosphere, let alone than at AMSL, which is under ABA investigation, and where the Dean already has had a vote of "no-confidence" registered against him by a substantial majority of the faculty.
In light of this conduct, a substantial majority of the faculty of AMSL has no plans to participate in relocating our beloved school to Ave Maria Town in Southwest Florida. No evidence has been presented that would suggest that the move, which was recently approved by our Board of Governors, is in the best interest of AMSL. Indeed, it appears that the move is being pursued primarily to benefit Ave Maria University, an institution that is wholly unrelated to the Law School.
We ask our colleagues at Mirror of Justice and elsewhere whether it is in keeping with Catholic Social Teaching - or even with basic standards of human decency - for a Board of Governors to simply ignore the faculty's detailed allegations of the denial of appropriate faculty governance and academic freedom? Are threats to people's jobs, should they dare speak out against a major change that may (indeed most likely will) bring ruin to the school, acceptable?
Mirror of Justice - full post | PDF of statement
Fumare - comments
UPDATE, 4/30/07 - The story is quickly expanding in the law community: Volokh Conspiracy (a 20K+ visitor/day website run by UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh); ProfessorBainbridge.com
UPDATE, 5/11/07 - Naples News picks-up story
AMSL Students Engage Their Faculty
What joy there was, what sorrow there was, the standing ovations - minutes long, the hoots and hollers and yelps of gratitude, the packed wall to wall room, the tears, the laughs, the jokes, the eloquent explanations and the informative answers, the impassioned speeches that curdled the blood like a rebel yell and inspired the mind and heart like Knute Rockne and Cicero...
I am not exagerrating. Anyone who disagrees with this comment either wasn't there or isn't being true to himself with what he witnessed.
The faculty were at their most inspired and answered every single question with grace and ability. It lasted over two hours. It was just what the doctor ordered.
I just wish the fumare boys could have been there. I was moved to tears several times. To see the faculty and students interact like that... jeez, it was a beautiful thing. There is hope.
Notes (not quotes) from the meeting, and comments from students and alumni, can be found here at Fumare. The transcriber said:
I wrote this transcript to the best of my ability. Unfortunately, much of the color and metaphor can not be transcribed in written form, but you know it existed. I have no problem posting this; the professors present repeatedly stated their purpose was to provide an open and honest account of their opinions regarding what has happened at our school. They were there in the open...to redact their names would be pointless. These fine men and women openly spoke their minds to a room full of people; I have no doubt that if they had the opportunity to speak to more people or have their opinions more widely disseminated, then they would do so. If I am wrong in this and such comes to light, then I have no problem with the removal of this post. However, as the faculty noted, it is time for this issue to come into the open. Besides, if you think the dean didn't have someone there taping/reporting this in some way, shape, or form, then just stick your head back in the sand.
Law School Administrators Sweating
The ABA is investigating AMSL for accreditation violations. Months ago, a group of AMSL employees contacted the ABA citing suspected violations. The ABA then contacted AMSL's administration for an explanation. That explanation did not satisfy the ABA; the School administration was unable to "establish that it is operating in compliance with the (ABA) Standards."
Last week, on March 15, Dobranski sent an email to employees and students. In the memo, he said:
Naturally, activities that are affirmatively injurious to the Law School during the course of one's employment at AMSL are not acceptable.
Many in the AMSL community have taken this as a threat to not criticize the closure of the Ann Arbor campus during the ABA Fact Finder's visit. It is reminiscent of a memo sent by Tom Monaghan to College faculty in October 2004 stating that any public criticism of the College Board's decision to close the Michigan campus would be considered "scandal" and, hence, cause for termination. Monaghan has a history of firing employees who report violations of standards or laws to authorities. (Commentary on memo: Fumare)
Click "More..." below for background on the "Fact Finder" dispatched to AMSL, and the full text of Dobranski's March 15 memo.
UPDATE, 3/23/07, 3:15pm - Students from the Law School report the following concerning the Fact Finder's visit:
+ The purpose of his visit was to investigate the faculty's complaint of accreditation standards violations; his purpose was not to assess the institution's request for ABA acquiescence to move to Ave Maria Town.
+ A student offered him a hypothetical scenario involving his own law school - a parallel to AMSL's situation in which a no-confidence vote from a majority of his institution's own faculty was immediately dismissed by his own Board of Governors - and asked if such a situation would likely be a violation of ABA Standards. The Fact-finder replied, "I can't comment [definitively], but that would be a pretty strong case."
+ A report summarizing the conclusions of his visit to AMSL will be filed at the ABA and reviewed in late April or June by the ABA's Accreditation Committee. The Committee may then call the administration before itself to answer questions. If found in violation, the School would be put on probation.More...
Former Journal Editor Rips AMSL
"Those in power quite obviously view this as a community of convenience, and I will not stand for it. The Board of Governors saw fit to bow to Mr. Monaghan's will in this endeavor and spurn the input and assistance of the school's main constituencies--faculty, alumni, and students--at every turn."More...
Law School Faculty Organize
Call the Media, *Then* Vote
Feb. 17 - Saturday - Board holds emergency meeting; vote taken after supposedly "fair" and "candid discussion", including option to not close
Feb. 18 - Sunday (Lord's Day)
Feb. 19 - Monday (President's Day)
Feb. 20 - Tuesday - morning announcement in Ann Arbor; statements released; afternoon press conference in Naples
Tuesday was incredibly well orchestrated despite not having any business days between the vote and the media blitz. Monaghan employees and consultants were flown-in from around the country. Even the Alumni Association President, a Detroit lawyer who surely had to rearrange his schedule, appeared in Ann Arbor and Florida. A prepared statement from the Governor of Florida was read. Representatives from Florida were flown to Ann Arbor to sell Ave Maria Town. To organize for Tuesday morning's flurry, it must have taken weeks of coordination prior to the Board's Saturday meeting. You don't ask a Governor for a statement unless it is in the bag. The announcement was even timed with a 48-hour sale of homes in the Ave Maria Town development! So much for the Board of Governor's thoughtful prudent deliberation as a group.
As Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, a member of AMU's Board of Regents, recently said "I think Tom is inclined to say, 'This is my business. It's called Ave Maria University, and they're working for me. And that has some very powerful built-in tensions." (New Yorker Magazine, Feb. 2007)
UPDATE, 2/22/07 - Accreditation Jeopardized - "Call the Media, Then Tell the ABA" may not pan-out for Tom Monaghan. At this time, the Ann Arbor law school is fully accredited by the nation's accrediting body for law schools, The American Bar Association (ABA). However, ABA accreditation standard #105 states that, to maintain accreditation, the ABA must approve any "major change" in a school before that change is enacted. In 2006, Thomas M. Cooley Law School (Lansing, Michigan) lost in a suit filed against the ABA; the ABA cited Cooley for violating Standard #105 when the school opened a new campus and tweeked enrollment without prior ABA approval. How could the AMSL Board of Governors vote to close the school and move to Florida without first securing ABA approval? How will this disregard for accreditation standards be viewed by the ABA when evaluating the Florida entity for accreditation?
UPDATE, 3/8/07 - Call the Printer, *Then* Vote - It took only two weeks to put this brochure together, complete with a quote from Robert Bork? Right.
UPDATE, 3/9/07 - Call the Video Producer, *Then* Vote - add to that, promotional videos
AMSL Railroads/Misrepresents Alumni
"Fact Finding" Not An "Investigation"?
Feb. 20, 2007 - Naples Daily News
"Dobranski [AMSL Dean] said the school of law isn’t under investigation."
Dec. 15, 2006 - memo from Dobranski to "The Law School Community"
"Since many facts are in dispute, the ABA has understandably decided to send a "Fact Finder" to the law school to gather additional information regarding these disputed matters."
[Not under investigation? Contacts at the American Bar Association have declined comment.]
***UPDATE, 2/21 - MORE CONTRADICTIONS***
Feb. 21, 2007 - Chronicle of Higher Education
"Bernard Dobranski, the law school’s president and dean, said in an interview that its Board of Governors had decided on the move after five years of discussing its options."
[discussing the option for 5 years]
Sept. 9, 2004 - Dobranski memo to the American Bar Association
"the only decision made to this point" by the board was its September 2003 decision "to not move to the Florida campus."
"the decision of the board was not to relocate. It was not a complete and final rejection of a possible move, but one which concluded that at that time, and for the immediate future, such a move would not be appropriate. ... No discussion is planned for the foreseeable future."
[So, you were not "discussing" the move in 2004, 3 years ago?]
Jan. 30, 2006 - Naples News - Headline: "Ave Maria law not planning move to Collier campus"
" "There are currently no plans to move to Naples," said Dobranski, the school's dean. "But with that said, we will have to seriously consider it, and we will more likely be doing that sooner, rather than later." "
[will have to? will be doing? So, you were not yet considering the move in 2006, one year ago?]
LAW SCHOOL CLOSING!
story developing...
UPDATE 2/20, noon - resignation letter of AMSL Associate Profesor Kevin Lee
UPDATE 2/20, 12:15pm - letter from Dean to AMSL students; 10am (click "more" below)
UPDATE 2/20, 12:30pm - AMSL Student Bar Association President J.D. Tripoli tells Board of Governors "It saddens me to inform you that rather than build, enhance, or comfort a community, you chose to meticulously tear one down. We deserved better."
UPDATE 2/20, 2:15pm - Monaghan statement to AMSL "community"
UPDATE 2/20, 4:15pm - AMSL Alumni Association Board of Directors issues statement condemning school Board of Governors (PDF here)
More...
Falvey: Monaghan $ Destabilizes AMSL
by Joseph Falvey, AMSL Professor of Law
November 24, 2006; redacted December 1, 2006
tabs/attachments not included in the following:
- low-bandwidth PDF (1.8MB; suggested)
- high-bandwidth PDF (3.7MB)
Nutshell: Consistent with the original plan, the Law School must reduce, not increase, Monaghan's financial involvement if AMSL is to regain stability. That can happen if (a) the original financial plan for the school is followed, (b) expenditures are critically analyzed, (c) notions of moving are, again, tabled to stop the instability-dependency cycle, and (d) fund-raising efforts are continued and reinforced. The Falvey Report findings run contrary to the notion promoted by many - that AMSL cannot survive without Tom Monaghan's money.
"The burden is not on me, or any member of the faculty, to establish the continuing viability of the Law School in Michigan. As detailed below [in the report], the long-term viability of Ave Maria School of Law, Ann Arbor, Michigan, has already been established to the satisfaction of the American Bar Association." - Joseph Falvey
Follow the comments and analysis at Fumare
Click on "More..." (below) for introductory information, excerpts from the Falvey Report, a timeline of events leading to the report, and a list of links to important documents and financial statements surrounding AMSL's finances.More...
AMSL Faculty Respond
UPDATE (12/15/06): In response to the AMSL administration's unsatisfactory reply to a complaint filed at the American Bar Association, the ABA is sending a "fact finding" investigator to the school. The administration was unable to "establish that it is operating in compliance with the (ABA) Standards." Story developing...
AMSL Study Forgets Michigan Tax-payer
AMSL Balance Rises on AMF Loan
But the ABA might be interested to know AMSL's continued building-related liability to Monaghan's Foundation. In 2001, AMSL secured several loans from AMF at 4-6%. One loan for $1.7M was for "Building". In its last available IRS filing (2004), that balance was up to nearly $2M.More...
Unaccredited AMU with Law School?!
Healy should talk to Dean Bernie Dobranski at AMSL (underline added for emphasis) :
Naples News (January 30, 2006) - There's another thing Dobranski said won't be happening if the board decides to relocate the school: Ave Maria School of Law will not become affiliated with Ave Maria University, at least not immediately. ... Once the new campus is opened, Ave Maria University will encompass both the university and the college, while the law school remains autonomous.
Embarrassing.
This only confirms the observations of insiders, including the testimony of AMU's former CFO - that the Ave Maria institutions are, in fact, run as one amalgamation by a central "Executive Team" at the Ave Maria Foundation (Monaghan, Fessio, Healy, Roney, Dobranski, Belli) and not as the autonomous non-profits that they claim to be for regulatory purposes.
More...