Why was Duquesne University's law school dean fired?

Duquesne University fired Dean Donald Guter yesterday, saying he failed to meet expectations. University spokeswoman Bridget Fare said "we need to improve the level of scholarship within the law school."

The news report does not explain what Ms. Fare meant by this. It could not mean the bar pass rate since it rose from 68% to 97% under Dean Guter in just three years.

The ex-Dean himself said he was fired due to President Charles Dougherty's personal animus toward him. Guter wrote to Dougherty yesterday: "You rebuffed my attempts [seek reconciliation last Easter season] in an most un-Catholic manner . . . ."

Someone has even speculated that Guter was fired because he supported Obama.

Will this incident blow into another "Father Nesti" situation -- you remember, when the school almost imploded in1987 due to then-President Donald Nesti's perceived dictatorial style? The donors ran for the hills, and the school was much closer to insolvency than most people realized. Then, aside from the basketball program, the school did a 180 under the next president, John Murray, to the point that WQED and Pittsburgh Magazine named Dr. Murray one of the top 100 Pittsburghers of the 20th Century and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called his stint as president an “extraordinary tenure” that set “a standard of excellence and achievement that is truly remarkable and may prove hard to equal.” (Post-Gazette, August 18, 2001.) The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote that some call the turnaround of Duquesne University under Dr. Murray's regime "the ‘miracle on the Bluff.’” (Tribune-Review, February 20, 2005.)

The interim dean named is Ken Gormley, a great guy with a tough job ahead. Hopefully he will bring peace to a school torn apart by this firing.

If I were the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Duquesne University, I would tell President Dougherty, "Get this the hell out of the news before you tear down all the goodwill built up over the past twenty years."

Of course doing that might be kind of like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube at this point.

Does anyone know if Dr. Murray would be willing to step back in to clean up this mess?