University of Miami Law Dean Anthony Varona fired back Thursday at the campus administrator who ousted him this week, calling the announcement of his departure defamatory.

A letter to university president Julio Frenk from Varona’s attorney, Debra Katz, demanded that Frenk retract his May 25 statement in which he wrote that the law school needs a “dean with the required vision and effectiveness of execution to bring the school to new levels of excellence.”