Interim Dean of DePaul Law Appointed

Following up on LLB's earlier post about the DePaul fiasco, Provost Helmut Epp announced today that Illinois Appellate Court Judge Warren D. Wolfson, 76, has been named interim dean of the DePaul University College of Law. Judge Wolfson will assume the position effective Aug. 15. He was appointed to a two-year term as interim dean. A national search will be launched next summer to fill the deanship permanently.

Judge Wolfson was first assigned to the Circuit Court of Cook County in 1975, elected to a full term in 1976 and retained in that position through five consecutive terms from 1982 through 2006.  Prior to his career on the bench, Judge Wolfson spent 18 years in private practice, specializing in criminal defense. Judge Wolfson was a trial advocacy instructor at The University of Chicago Law School from 1985 to 2000. He has served as an adjunct professor, instructor and lecturer at the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law since 1971, teaching courses in evidence and trial advocacy and directing the trial advocacy program since 1983.

The following law faculty resolution was presented to the DePaul University Administration:

The Faculty of the College of Law protests the recent actions taken by the University administration without consultation with, or involvement by, the students, faculty, staff, or other members of the College of Law community. We are especially saddened and angered by the summary removal of our Dean, Glen Weissenberger. We strongly believe that these actions violate the principles of trust and shared responsibility that have characterized, and should continue to characterize, the governance of the College.

As a faculty, we are united in our commitment to the continued excellence and diversity of the University and to the Vincentian mission. We are proud of the contribution that the College of Law—students, faculty, and staff—have made toward these shared ends. It is our unanimous view that the unilateral actions taken by the administration are unfair to our students and to other members of the College of Law community who have contributed to and relied upon the progress the College has made under Dean Weissenberger’s leadership.

We particularly emphasize our opposition to the University administration’s announced intention to install an interim dean without any input from the College of Law community. We strongly urge the administration not to implement this action.

[JH]