I’M STILL CURIOUS ABOUT THIS MYSELF: Miami Law Community Seeks Answers On Firing Of Tony Varona As Acting Dean Takes Over.

IT’S STILL UNCLEAR WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED: Miami Dean Tony Varona Takes The High Road In His Farewell Message After Being Fired Less Than 2 Years Into His Deanship.

NEWS FROM MIAMI LAW: I got this email from Tony Varona, the outgoing dean of the University of Miami Law School, giving his side of the story:

I see that you have covered my termination.

I thought I would reach out to suggest a correction.

I did not fire Prof. Ravicher, nor decide not to renew his contract. We had him scheduled to teach this past spring semester and had planned for him to teach through at least the next academic year. We would not have decided whether to renew his contract until late in the fall 2021 semester, and his support of President Trump would have played no role in the decision whether to renew him. (We have many other community members here who supported President Trump.) In fact, I told Dan that it was important to me as dean and for our entire law school community to have conservative perspectives represented on our faculty. I do not know why Dan continues to say otherwise.

Prof. Michael Froomkin covered the matter on his blog. It’s an accurate account.

As Michael puts it: “He’s recently taken to social media – and even Fox TV – to claim he’s been fired for his pro-Trump tweets and other speech, or is about to be, or may not have his contract renewed when it expires. As far as I have been able to ascertain, at least the first two of these claims are simply false. The fate of the third lies well in the future.”

Hmm. Ravicher certainly seemed to think he was being fired. This entire affair just gets stranger. All of the InstaPundit coverage of this odd matter can be found here.

MORE ON MIAMI: Miami Searches For Interim Dean After Controversial Firing Of Tony Varona, Who Sought To Reduce Overhead Tax Law School Pays To University. “Dean Varona wanted to reduce the percentage of money the law school is required to give to the university general budget and keep more of it for improving the law school’s facilities, salaries and scholarships. The University of Miami really has become a medical school with sidelines in other fields,” Klock said. “The law facility is old and tired. It’s a stepchild.”

MIAMI: University Of Miami President Doubles Down On Decision To Fire Tony Varona After Less Than Two Years As Dean. “Frenk, who met with the professors Wednesday night, did not provide a detailed explanation for removing Varona, saying he didn’t find that appropriate.” Interesting that they’re still providing no details. My earlier speculation is here.

WHY IS HIGHER EDUCATION SO HOSTILE TO GAY DEANS? University Of Miami President Fires Tony Varona After Only Two Years As Dean; Tenured Faculty Protests Decision; Varona’s Lawyer Says He Will Contest Decision.

I’D KINDA LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TOO: Sixteen Miami Faculty Demand Answers To Questions Surrounding Firing Of Dean Tony Varona.

HMM: University Of Miami Appoints Acting Law School Dean; Faculty Demands Investigation Into Firing Of Tony Varona. Neither the university, nor Varona himself, has been very forthcoming about what was going on here.

I STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON HERE, BUT IT LOOKS BAD: SALT Calls For Review Of Dismissal Of University Of Miami Law Dean Tony Varona, ‘UM’s First Latinx And Openly Gay Dean.’ They knew he was gay and Latino when they hired him, so I doubt that has anything to do with it. But they won’t say why they fired him, which naturally raises suspicions. He is by all accounts well-liked by the law faculty, and he had just gotten a positive review and a merit raise, so who wants him out?

My guess is, the non-woke segment of the alumni. While lots of important virtue has been signaled, Miami’s bar passage rate has cratered:

And the author of the above post, whom Varona fired last year, has been campaigning against Miami’s woke culture.

More here.

And he seems to be taking a bit of a victory lap:

So reading the tea leaves, I’d say that an overdose of wokeness led to a lot of alumni becoming deeply uninterested in contributing to the university’s big new capital campaign, and the university higher-ups decided that Varona was too expensive to keep. Just speculation on my part, but I’m sure we’ll learn the truth eventually.

UPDATE: Related: The Risks When Law School Deans Go Woke.

And I have to say, Ravicher is fighting back the right way. If you’re “canceled,” don’t slink away — punish them. Talk to alumni, talk to prospective students — heck, here I’d buy Google ads saying the school discriminates and that bar passage is bad — and if it’s a public school, talk to legislators. And, also for public schools, file state Freedom of Information Act requests for salary and travel expense information; there’s usually a rich lode of embarrassment there if you look hard enough.

If you go to FIU, you can take classes from former InstaPundit co-blogger Elizabeth Price Foley, which is reason enough to choose it over Miami. (Bumped).

UPDATE: Dean Tony Varona responds here.

LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: University Of Miami Faculty Senate Unanimously Condemns Firing Of Dean Tony Varona And Urges His Reinstatement. The absence of any explanation here is odd.