Melbourne Law Dean Resigns

Just to show that decanal scandals aren't limited to the United States, The Australian newspaper yesterday reported that the relatively new dean at Melbourne Law School (James Hathaway, originally from Canada) has resigned his position after 18 months into a five year term.  The resignation appears to have been motivated by frustrations about the way in which the school is moving to a more corporate model - ie there appear to have been differences in opinion between the dean, the faculty/staff, and the central university about how best to change the law school's management structure to accommodate new business models in legal education. As an alum of the school, I'm sad to see this level of turmoil after many years of what appeared to be relative stability in management and operations.  But maybe there's some lessons in the story about the growing tensions between a law school's academic mission and the increasing corporatization of the academic enterprise.  My impression has been that the plan at Melbourne University has been to move the whole enterprise more towards a private American-type university model, as distinct from its original roots as a public institution.  I'm not fully informed, but if any Aussies out there are reading this, I'd be interested in any more background you could add.

Comments

[Adam smith]

There is still hope in this twisted world when people of the caliber of Professor Hathaway stand up and be counted. Even if half the custodians of the law and order show a modicum of integrity more than half the world’s problem would be resolved. Of course one cannot forget his mother who has been a catalyst cajoling her son to this noble selfless sacrifice.

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Adam Smith

flights to Melbourne

[Michael Gentry]

Professor Hathaway is a leading authority on international refugee law. In resigning his deanship, Professor Hathaway says that having devoted a quarter century to the progressive development of refugee law norms, he now wishes to re-engage all of his energies to find answers to what is clearly a moment of crisis in the international protection regime.

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Michael Gentry

"dofollow"> Melbourne