Ave Maria law school dean Bernard Dobranski
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Law school's move opens door for exiting faculty
May 12, 2008
More than a dozen faculty members at troubled Ave Maria Law School have left either temporarily or permanently since the school announced a year-and-a-half ago it was moving to Florida.
While not all the departures are directly related to the move, the vast majority are related to the law school's handling of the move and those who spoke out against it, according to several faculty members.
Among those who have left in the last year: Lee Strang, who is going to the Toledo College of Law; James Sonne, a tenured professor who is taking a clerkship with a federal judge in Louisiana; Joseph Falvey, co-founder of the school who became an assistant U.S. attorney in Michigan; and Howard Bromberg, who recently quit for a job with the University of Michigan.
Additionally, Bridget Carr went to teach at University of Notre Dame Law School, Nora O'Callaghan is a visiting professor at University of Idaho School of Law, Kevin Lee took a job at Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law School in Buies Creek, N.C., and tenured professor Richard Myers will spent part of next year as a visiting professor at Notre Dame.
More exits to come
The school has not yet announced that Vanessa Pierce just quit to take a job with Wayne State Law School, professor Diane Eisenberg just quit and former Judge Robert Bork is on a medical leave.
Professors Edward Lyons and Phil Pucillo were placed on an indefinite leave of absence and — along with fired professor Stephen Safranek — have filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming retaliation for voicing protests about the move. Both were denied tenure.
Also on the temporary leave list is the source of much of the angst: Dean Bernard Dobranski. Dobranski is out on indefinite medical leave due to problems with a hip replacement, and professor Gene Milhizer was appointed interim dean.
When asked if he was concerned about the faculty departures, Milhizer said, "we value all our faculty."
He denied that the departures were related to the move to Florida. "Even if we weren't moving to Florida, there would be departures," Milhizer said. "That's what happens at law schools."
Since the Catholic law school announced in February 2007 that it was moving to Ave Maria, a town founded by school head Thomas Monaghan in central Florida, from Ann Arbor, Mich., it has been in an uproar.
Since then, faculty members upset at the fact that had no input into or knowledge of the decision have given the dean a vote of no confidence and sparked an apparently ongoing investigation by the American Bar Association.
The ABA did not return calls seeking comment.
Since then, there has been a mass exodus of faculty.
Myers said he does not plan on moving to Florida "unless there are dramatic changes in the way the school is operated." His wife, who is also a tenured professor at Ave Maria Law School, and he were some of the original professors that started with the school.
The brain drain at the school has been devastating, Myers said.
"There were 20 full-time people on the faculty a year-and-a-half ago," he said. "Next year there will be five of that group left teaching full-time. That's a dramatic change."
The law school has been actively trying to recruit new teachers, Myers said, with only limited success. The school recently hired a tax professor and a visiting professor, he said.
Kevin Lee, who left last July, said he resigned for the same reason: retaliation after he spoke out about the way the move was proposed. Additionally, he said he felt discriminated against as an Asian American after discovering he was the lowest paid professor on the staff. Lee said he considered joining the lawsuit brought by three other professors against the school but decided against it.
"I don't feel like litigating the issue," he said. "I want to go on with my life."
Yet another professor who quit said he was the victim of retaliation in the form of tiny salary increases after he did not support the move to Florida. "I wouldn't have looked elsewhere except for the mistreatment by Dean Dobranski," he said.
Milhizer declined comment on Lee's and Myers's allegations, calling them, "personnel issues I can't discuss."
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