St. Thomas University Law School Reinstates Fired Professor

Following up on my earlier post, I am pleased to report that on August 27, STU College of Law  (Miami) rescinded the termination letter issued by the Dean and reinstated my client Professor Lauren Gilbert with full pay and benefits, including back pay.   Although the University has notified Professor Gilbert of its intent to seek her termination, they have agreed to provide her with the full range of contractual due process rights set forth in the law school faculty handbook as we demanded in our Complaint for Declaratory Judgment.   Professor Gilbert continues to maintain that there is no adequate cause for termination and is confident that she will be retained by a jury of her tenured faculty peers if the matter goes to a formal hearing.  

With a September 3 deadline looming to respond to the lawsuit, I consider the University’s complete capitulation to the demands in our lawsuit to be an implicit concession that their position that a tenured professor could be treated as an at-will employee and summarily terminated was legally indefensible.  

 

Thank you to the many law students, law professors, law school administrators and others who expressed their support for Professor Gilbert.