ACADEMIC FREEDOM UPDATE: Widener LawProf Sues Dean. “Today Lawrence Connell, the professor who was suspended from teaching at the Widener University law school after two students complained about the examples he used in his first-year criminal law course, filed suit for defamation against the law school dean, Linda Ammons.” I’m sure they hired Ammons with the hope she’d improve the school’s academic reputation. Not so much, as it turns out.