Students Protest Ouster of Law School Dean

PITTSBURGH, Pa., Jan. 26, 2009 -- A Duquesne University employee peeked out from an office door frame; she could hear the sounds swelling. She looked down the corridor toward the front doors.

"The protesters are here," she said, ducking back into her office.

Outside, more than 100 students had turned out to protest the removal of Don Guter as dean of the law school.

The demonstration, in front of the "Old Main" administrative building, came a week after Vanessa Browne-Barbour, the associate dean of the law school, resigned, calling Guter's removal a "grievous injustice."

The protesters' main complaint was that the university, especially President Charles J. Dougherty, had ignored the formal reappointment process for deans, which calls upon an internal law school committee to review a dean's performance.

Instead, they claim, Dougherty dismissed Guter before that committee had the chance to review his tenure.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that in December, Guter was given 24 hours to resign as dean or be removed. He remains a member of the faculty.

Guter, who had been dean since 2005, has been credited with helping raise students' first-time bar-passage rate to 97 percent. Supporters say that the president held a grudge against Guter because of disputes over law school funds and personnel matters.

Late Wednesday, Dougherty sent a letter to the law school faculty saying that Guter had failed "to perform as a part of the university's administrative team and to effectively manage the school." Dougherty said that Guter "could not and would not accept" that responsibility, so "there was no alternative to removing him as dean."

Third-year law student Logan Fischer summed up the mood of the demonstration.

"The goal of the protest is for the president and the whole community -- the whole Pittsburgh community -- to know of our views, that we're not happy, that we want a change. We want our dean back," said Fischer.

According to university spokeswoman Bridget Fare, the protest "will have no impact on the decision or the board and corporation's support of the president." Dougherty was attending an off-campus meeting during the protest, Fare said.

It is the second time in less than two years that students have protested on behalf of law school students and faculty.

In 2007, students protested Dougherty's decision to deny tenure for law professor John Rago. On Wednesday, he stood with a group of university faculty members and watched the protesters from across the street. "It looks terribly familiar," he said.