Here is a wonderfully revealing essay on the “trainwreck” presidency of Gene Nichol at William and Mary.
From what I knew about Big Gene when he was at Chapel Hill, none of this surprises me. He’s a charming schmoozer, but utterly devoted to his socialist views. From time to time, he’d have an op-ed in the News & Observer that would sound like a rant from Michael Moore. Why should the dean of the state’s flagship public law school be writing pieces on topics like “tax equity” that push a hard-left agenda? Because he couldn’t help himself, I suppose.
Besides all the interesting details about Nichol’s tenure at William and Mary, the essay also discloses the fact that a law school’s American Bar Association accreditation can depend on fundraising. The ABA insists that law schools be pretty lavish affairs, spending loads of money on facilities and faculty. Just teaching students about contracts, torts, property, etc., isn’t enough.