UM, the wall of silence won’t work. We need more transparency on law school dean firing | Editorial

The furor over the firing of the University of Miami’s law school dean is getting worse. Faculty members and graduates are demanding answers. We think they deserve them.

UM President Julio Frenk abruptly dismissed Anthony Varona as dean last week - a decision he announced in an email without following the usual policy of notifying faculty first. That led to days of fallout: a vice-dean resigned in protest, UM’s Faculty Senate unanimously approved a resolution denouncing Frenk’s move and a group of about 60 UM law school alumni sent a letter to administrators criticizing the firing and asking for a meeting.

The Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Minority Groups even stepped in, calling for an “independent and credible investigation” into the firing. One prominent Miami attorney and UM law school alum, Tod Aronovitz, sent a separate letter to Frenk, which was shared with the Miami Herald, calling the firing of a well-liked dean without even conferring with the faculty “a historic act of arrogance.”

Despite that cascade of criticism, Frenk’s reasons for dismissing Varona, a leader in the LGBTQ community and the law school’s first Hispanic dean, have remained frustratingly murky. In his email announcement on May 25, Frenk alluded to an issue with fundraising, noting that “the current capital campaign — which will culminate in four short years — presents a rapidly narrowing window of opportunity to mobilize significant resources on behalf of Miami Law.”

But that’s all he has said. When a Miami Herald reporter on Friday reached Peter Howard, the assistant vice president of communications and public relations at UM, Howard wouldn’t talk, either. He simply pointed back to the original message Frenk sent last week.

“That contains all of the information you need,” Howard said.

That sort of high-handed attitude isn’t helpful in this heated environment and it’s not the kind of thing we expect from a civic heavy-hitter like the UM. UM is a much-loved institution that has long been a driving force in everything from medical research to business to marine science. Its Hurricanes football program is a mainstay of Miami. It’s not just a university, it’s a community leader. It needs to act like one.

We understand that UM is a private institution. It can fire employees. We don’t have a right to know why. And lawsuit threats — it’s a law school, after all — are already flying. That puts UM in a defensive posture, like it or not.

We also know fundraising and law school national rankings and the passing rate for the Florida Bar exam all have to be central to any dean’s job.

This dean, though, has been in his job since August 2019, meaning he has held the position mostly during the pandemic, which has to be considered an extenuating factor.

As the outcry continues, the fractures between UM and the community are widening. It’s time for the university to stop waiting for the storm to blow over and deal with this controversy as directly as possible.

The wall of silence isn’t working.

This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 1:42 PM.