Law Dean Biased in Hiring, Lawsuit Alleges

The Daily Iowan ^ | 1/23/09 | Olivia Moran

[PLK]

A UI College of Law employee filed a federal lawsuit against the dean of the school this week, asserting she was rejected for a position because of her political affiliation. Teresa Wagner, a Republican who works part-time at the law school writing center, names UI College of Law Dean Carolyn Jones in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

The remainder of the article is available free and in its entirety at the URL above.

[PLK]

The University of Iowa is, like so many large colleges, a bastion of leftism. This doesn't surprise me one bit. What's amazing is this even got in the papers at all!

[SandRat]

silly rabbit.. don't you know.. unless you tow the party line (Uberliberal), you can't work for

[Islander7]

"The faculty who opposed her, in my judgment, did not oppose her because of her political beliefs but because they didn't think she'd do a good job delivering to law students the traits we wanted them to have."

DUH! The fool just admitted it. "She would not indoctrinate them the way we want it done."

[Arguendo]

Liberalism is so engrained in academia that for it not to result in discriminatory hiring practices, the dean probably needs to make a conscious effort to hire conservatives. This doesn’t mean hiring underqualified conservatives, but in the absence of such an effort the dean will inevitably be able to come up with “good” reasons to choose the liberal over the conservative whenever there’s a choice.

Luckily some law schools actually make this effort; many (including, I’m guessing, Iowa) don’t.

[Wuli]

“The faculty who opposed her, in my judgment, did not oppose her because of her political beliefs but because they didn’t think she’d do a good job delivering to law students the traits we wanted them to have.”

Academia has an entire set of practices devoted to this type of thinking, and in some cases even give it it’s recognized title of “disposition”, in decisions regarding curriculum, staffing and even grades; in which the subject (person or element of the curriculum) is regarded as NOT reflecting the right “disposition” for the course; when in fact, in all cases, “disposition” can be reduced to, and demonstrated as nothing more than one’s set of political values.

[Zeppo]

"Based on what we know from reporters, we believe it is without merit, and we will vigorously defend ourselves," UI spokesman Steve Parrott said.

Steve Parrott - what a great name for a 'spokesman', huh...