Monday, October 31, 2005
Rice Speaks of His Own Recount
Regarding the article in The Wanderer and whether the conditions I referenced has any basis, consider this memo posted on whoseamsol.blogspot.com today from Professor Charles Rice.
It outlines an initial resolution to renominate all board members that was tabled and three subsequent meetings that effectively crafted the term limits as imposed thereby removing Rice.
Among the other quotations that are relevant to Founder's Syndrome, I notice that early on, Professor Rice was asking the question:
I added the emphasis to this quote of Professor Rice.
Ave Maria School of Law is not a toy in the hands on one man, because, as a fully accredited law school and with private donors as well as alumni relying on it to retain its stellar performance and improve, it is a public entity. It's ours now. I get student loan bills every month that remind how much the school is mine, and so do others.
As far as the similarity, if any between Professor Rice's concerns over governance and my own, I can tell you, the reader, that we reached the concerns independently. I think, from my own experience, that the school does not belong to Thomas Monaghan, but to the community and to others whose contributions are relatively far greater. The governance of the school should be more in line with a system that ensures that one man cannot shoe horn his private goals aunchallengedethroughgh the decision making process of the school's management.
More to follow... I promise.
It outlines an initial resolution to renominate all board members that was tabled and three subsequent meetings that effectively crafted the term limits as imposed thereby removing Rice.
Among the other quotations that are relevant to Founder's Syndrome, I notice that early on, Professor Rice was asking the question:
As background, it may be helpful to note that, as a Board member, I have disagreed, in writing and in spoken comments, with the Chairman and the Dean on several matters since the projected move to Florida surfaced. I have expressed the view that the move to Florida would be contrary to the best interests of AMSL, including a potentially adverse impact on AMSL's Catholic character. In my view, the continuing speculation as to a move to Florida has significantly destabilized the AMSL community. The decisive issue, however, is not Florida but AMSL's mode of governance. On several occasions I have raised the question of whether there is a tendency for AMSL to be governed, in effect, as a sole proprietorship, with the interests of AMSL and its community potentially subordinated to another agenda, in which case the Board could be reduced to a merely decorative role inconsistent with its fiduciary duty to AMSL and its community. The existence of these and other disagreements I have had, and still have, with the Chairman and the Dean could be relevant to any conjectures as to possible reasons for my removal from the Board. A discussion of the merits of those disagreements, however, would take this memo beyond its proper scope.
I added the emphasis to this quote of Professor Rice.
Ave Maria School of Law is not a toy in the hands on one man, because, as a fully accredited law school and with private donors as well as alumni relying on it to retain its stellar performance and improve, it is a public entity. It's ours now. I get student loan bills every month that remind how much the school is mine, and so do others.
As far as the similarity, if any between Professor Rice's concerns over governance and my own, I can tell you, the reader, that we reached the concerns independently. I think, from my own experience, that the school does not belong to Thomas Monaghan, but to the community and to others whose contributions are relatively far greater. The governance of the school should be more in line with a system that ensures that one man cannot shoe horn his private goals aunchallengedethroughgh the decision making process of the school's management.
More to follow... I promise.
// posted by John B. Manos @ 10/31/2005 06:59:00 PM 
Comments:
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I had a sobering thought with today's news. Everybody knows today that 3rd Circuit Judge Sam Alito has been nominated to SCOTUS. Many people might not realize that AMSOL grad Matt Bowman is clerking for him.
This would naturally be a big boost to the school's reputation. What school wouldn't promote that it's got an alumni in a SCOTUS clerkship? It already takes heavy pride in the alumni who already have federal and state clerkships, JAG positions, and big firm jobs...each "elite" success is good for all of us.
So what if the school up and relocates to Florida? Predictably, many students and faculty would disassociate themselves with the school, effectively leaving a new entity that doesn't much resemble the old. Would this new school fairly be able to claim Matt as its alumni? Or any of the rest of us who have gone on to clerkships or other high-profile positions?
Personally, I'd feel quite upset if AMSOL-2 tried to associate my name and position with its own promotional materials. Yes, I'd like my career success to help other Catholic law students have that much more reputation behind the name on their diploma. However, I'd want that reputation to be honestly earned. AMSOL helped get me my job. AMSOL-2 won't credibly be able to make such a retroactive claim.
This would naturally be a big boost to the school's reputation. What school wouldn't promote that it's got an alumni in a SCOTUS clerkship? It already takes heavy pride in the alumni who already have federal and state clerkships, JAG positions, and big firm jobs...each "elite" success is good for all of us.
So what if the school up and relocates to Florida? Predictably, many students and faculty would disassociate themselves with the school, effectively leaving a new entity that doesn't much resemble the old. Would this new school fairly be able to claim Matt as its alumni? Or any of the rest of us who have gone on to clerkships or other high-profile positions?
Personally, I'd feel quite upset if AMSOL-2 tried to associate my name and position with its own promotional materials. Yes, I'd like my career success to help other Catholic law students have that much more reputation behind the name on their diploma. However, I'd want that reputation to be honestly earned. AMSOL helped get me my job. AMSOL-2 won't credibly be able to make such a retroactive claim.
# posted by 
: Mon Oct 31, 09:38:00 PM CST
: Mon Oct 31, 09:38:00 PM CST
From the other side of the fence:
As someone currently applying to law schools and has Ave Maria Law as her #1 choice, it's terribly nerve-wracking to see all of this (to us outsiders) sudden chaos surrounding the school.
To be perfectly honest, as I would have to relocate whether the school is in Mich. or Fl., so that part doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that - as you so rightly point out - I'll be signing up based on a desire to attend AMSOL-1 and might wind up with AMSOL-2...sans faculty, staff, &c. Different from the original, and different primarily (it seems) due to the agenda of a single person who, in fact, doesn't hold a J.D.
Not to whine; I don't mean to whine...but...I just want to go to a school that really believes in the value of social justice. As a Catholic, I feel a certain comfort in the prospect of that school being Catholic, too. What do you say when it appears that some highly unjust things may be afoot there?
Of course, being an outsider (as I said earlier), what I see is highly filtered. Seeing as I am commenting here, I hope you see that I am trying to read all I can in the hopes of finding "the other side" to this mess. Thus far, it's been fairly unsuccessful save a letter by Dean Dobranski, the spirit of which served mainly to paint Dr. Rice as a liar and a malcontent. Bad tidings for Ave Maria, indeed.
Any comments or thoughts you have for a prospective student would be most appreciated. And, yes, I'll pray about it. Thanks.
(p.s. Ignore my blog; I just didn't want to sign this comment as 'anonymous' or 'other.')
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As someone currently applying to law schools and has Ave Maria Law as her #1 choice, it's terribly nerve-wracking to see all of this (to us outsiders) sudden chaos surrounding the school.
To be perfectly honest, as I would have to relocate whether the school is in Mich. or Fl., so that part doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that - as you so rightly point out - I'll be signing up based on a desire to attend AMSOL-1 and might wind up with AMSOL-2...sans faculty, staff, &c. Different from the original, and different primarily (it seems) due to the agenda of a single person who, in fact, doesn't hold a J.D.
Not to whine; I don't mean to whine...but...I just want to go to a school that really believes in the value of social justice. As a Catholic, I feel a certain comfort in the prospect of that school being Catholic, too. What do you say when it appears that some highly unjust things may be afoot there?
Of course, being an outsider (as I said earlier), what I see is highly filtered. Seeing as I am commenting here, I hope you see that I am trying to read all I can in the hopes of finding "the other side" to this mess. Thus far, it's been fairly unsuccessful save a letter by Dean Dobranski, the spirit of which served mainly to paint Dr. Rice as a liar and a malcontent. Bad tidings for Ave Maria, indeed.
Any comments or thoughts you have for a prospective student would be most appreciated. And, yes, I'll pray about it. Thanks.
(p.s. Ignore my blog; I just didn't want to sign this comment as 'anonymous' or 'other.')
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