FIU's Public Law Dean Search Continues; Faculty Nix Alex Acosta

Most of us have seen sausage prodcued at our own institutions, but as a result of Florida's sunshine laws, we can watch it made at Florida International University law school as well.  This from the South Florida Sun Sentinel: 

In a poll taken Monday, a slight majority of the law school's 26 faculty members deemed Alex Acosta "not acceptable" for the post. The faculty gave its most favorable recommendations to two out-of-town candidates with superior academic chops--Jose Roberto Juarez Jr., dean of the University of Denver law school and Joel Friedman, a law professor at Tulane University.

The paper may call this a poll, but we probably would refer to it as a "vote".  And the exact vote here was 10 "acceptable", 14 "unacceptable", and 2 abstentions.  Those might be meaningful abstentions, too, if they transformed opposition to the level of "slight".   Interpretation 206-1 of ABA Accreditation Standard 206 provides: 

The faculty or a representative body of it should have substantial involvement in the selection of a dean. 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.

I blogged previously on the weirdness of having candidates named so publicly, particularly when one of the candidates - the former U.S. Attorney - might have political aspirations.  And Howard Wasserman has chimed in on the FIU search over at Prawfs here and here.  Now we'll have to see whether political considerations (or perhaps the President's judgment about quality) ultimately trump the objections of faculty.  

FIU is a relatively new school, doing a good job building up its reputation in the academy.   On that front, if nowhere else, I can't imagine that Acosta would be a good choice for FIU.  It would send a signal about the school's view of both  academic values and faculty governance.  

Comments

[anonymous]

All I can say is that this was most certainly NOT a vote of the FIU tenure stream faculty, who will have the ultimate vote-- yes, an actual vote, which this was not-- on both tenure and rank. This was a poll of the "faculty" as that word is broadly construed in the faculty bylaws. This term includes legal writing, clinic, various administrative deans who are not tenure stream, and joint appointees with other colleges. None of these individuals-- who represented about 10 of the 26 votes cast-- will have a role in the final tenure or rank vote. And it also did NOT include (due to an odd last-minute ruling from general counsel's office about the Florida Sunshine Law) the 4 members of the Search & Screen Committee, 3 of whom are tenure stream, and the fourth of whom is arguably FIU College of Law's most accomplished scholar (Stanley Fish). There is very strong opposition to Juarez among the tenure-stream faculty because he has spent 19 years in the academy with very little scholarship of note. Just thought the record should be set straight, since the original post was so incredibly inaccurate.

[anonymous]

Why is this process so complicated? Maybe someone should really look at this group of people. My tax dollars are paying for their jobs but I sense they are only fighting for their own agenda and not that of my sons and daughters who may attend this school. Tenure, rank, accomplished, etc.. why so much division or class? Why can't everyone be heard?

[anonymous]

My tax dollars to to support this law school as well, and I'd like to know why the previous post thinks that allowing someone to discuss the context of the situation is somehow not in keeping with the idea of "everyone being heard." Seems the opposite to me-- why is the previous post trying to suppress the comments of the first post?

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