Legal Commentary

Disciplinary Charges Filed Against Criminal Law Professor For Classroom Hypotheticals

By Orin Kerr

Last week?s update in the strange case of Lawrence Connell was that a faculty committee recommended against dismissal, at least ?in light of the proceedings also now underway pursuant to Section 6 of The Widener University Faculty Member Discrimination and Harassment Code concerning Professor Connell.? The latest news is that the two students who complained about Professor Connell filed charges last week with the university, and that he will face some sort of disciplinary proceedings before a panel of University administrators. Connell?s lawyer has posted a press release about it here, although the press release is so self-serving and argumentative that it?s hard to tell what is actually happening.

My sense is that there are a lot of people in academia watching this case, and that it?s destined to become a major news story eventually. It will be very interesting to see what emerges when it does. (One interesting wrinkle is that the Widener Law Dean, Linda Ammons, was considered a likely nominee for a federal judgeship in Delaware last fall but is now rumored to be out of the running. I wonder if the two stories are related.)

Hat tip: NAS blog.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on March 16, 2011 (boomark / email).