I don't know the facts behind the ouster of the dean of DePaul's law school, Glen Weissenberger, but the public commentary suggests that he may have been terminated because he provided accurate information to the ABA's committee on accreditation.
For some time now, I've been arguing on this blog that the most powerful form of ethics teaching that occurs in law schools is the open and widespread gaming of numbers and statistics for rankings purposes. Students are taught that gaming the numbers and then concealing it, fibbing about it, or rationalizing it, is what grown-ups do for a living in the real world. If it is true that Weissenberger's ouster was caused in part by his act of honesty to the ABA (which, I repeat, seems to be alleged but not conclusively proven), then it teaches an even sadder lesson. Given the tone and content of the public discussion, DePaul should do an extensive and impartial post-mortem on this event and make the results public.
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