The Volokh Conspiracy
[Jonathan Adler, December 28, 2007 at 11:52am] Trackbacks
Decanal Narcissism:

Russell Weaver has an interesting post on the problem of the narcissistic law dean.

ronnie dobbs (mail):
Gene Nichol anyone?
12.28.2007 11:33am
TomH (mail):
Better than a narcoleptic dean. That makes the faculty meetings too long.
12.28.2007 11:35am
Cornellian (mail):
I'd prefer narcoleptic, I could slip out / read the paper / blog during his naps.
12.28.2007 11:43am
A.:
Caminker is still very proud of winning.
12.28.2007 11:59am
Tony Tutins (mail):
How does the narcissism of the dean manifest itself? All I glean from the article is that the faculty doesn't like it. I did understand the objection to deans who have contempt for any or all of their faculty. But, although contempt may not be the right response, tenure means that some profs ceased their scholarly activity during the Carter administration. Although these often pride themselves on their teaching and on their accessibility to (hot, female) students, the material they put on course reserve all date back to their own law school days.
12.28.2007 12:22pm
Le Messurier (mail):

"As Professor Ron Krotoszynski (Washington &Lee University School of Law, but visiting at Alabama this year) said, a dean can get away with holding her faculty (individually or collectively) in contempt, but she better not show it. I might add an addendum to this sentiment: a dean might place her own personal interests ahead of the institution's interests, but she had better not reveal that bias either."

What's with the odd use of gender. Did I miss something in the article? Or was Krotoszynski speaking about a particular dean? The "she" caused me to go back and look for a female name in the piece,
12.28.2007 1:21pm
tarheel:
Ronnie Dobbs:

Almost anyone at UNC will tell you Gene Nichol was a great law dean. For what they are worth, the rankings since he left would support that opinion. I assume you (like many others) have a problem with his tenure as president of William &Mary. But hey, why let the facts get in the way of snark.
12.28.2007 1:31pm
guest (mail):
Is this intended to be a shot at Louisville's current MoneyLaw dean?
12.28.2007 1:58pm
Pin Head (mail):
Did anyone tell Chancellor Drake at UC Irvine about this?
12.28.2007 1:58pm
Prufrock765 (mail):
Le Messurier:
It has been a while since I was in law school. But, as I recall, the unwritten rule is that every hypothetical judge or professor, or any other person of respectable authority must be female.
12.28.2007 2:03pm
Lawrence W-H:
Considering that deans are selected from the ranks of law faculties, what are the chances of finding a dean who's not narcissistic?

Just kidding. Kinda.
12.28.2007 2:27pm
Tony Tutins (mail):
What's with the odd use of gender.

Since the dawning of the Political Correctness era, the male has ceased to embrace the female. I see not everyone has accepted this stylebook change.
12.28.2007 3:47pm
Le Messurier (mail):
Tony Tutins


"Since the dawning of the Political Correctness era, the male has ceased to embrace the female. I see not everyone has accepted this stylebook change."

Being old enough to have seen numerous "eras" come and go I find it convenient to accept stylebook changes only upon the passing of epochs, when their durability and longevity are more assured. Otherwise, I'm wasting my time trying to keep up with fads.
12.28.2007 4:02pm
Public_Defender (mail):
Narcissism in a leader is bad for an organization. Who'd of thunk it? Pardon the sarcasm, but how is this an original idea?
12.28.2007 7:47pm
Sean M:
Sadly, Ronnie Dobbs, Gene Nichol is the President of William &Mary, not the Dean of the law school.

Our dean, Taylor Revely, could not be more of a southern gentleman.
12.28.2007 10:23pm
Eric Muller (www):
I'll second tarheel's comment above. Gene Nichol was an excellent dean at UNC Law, my institution.
12.29.2007 9:26pm

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