Buyouts offered to tenured faculty at embattled Charleston School of Law
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Four months after Charleston School of Law’s new president resigned after only eight days on the job, the school is the subject of more negative news.
The South Carolina school has offered buyouts to an unknown number of tenured, tenure-track and tenure-equivalent faculty members, the Post and Courier reports in a story noted by Above the Law. Buyout packages were also offered to staff members, according to the Charleston Regional Business Journal.
In November, Maryann Jones cited “vitriol” over the private school’s proposed sale to InfiLaw for her decision to quit barely a week into the job. “In trying to do what must be done and should have been done months ago, I have become the focus of everyone’s frustration and anger,” Jones wrote.
Enrollment at the law school dropped 24 percent from 2010 to 2014, and revenue declined 18 percent in the same period, the Charleston Business Journal says, citing information disclosed this summer by InfiLaw attorney Kevin Hall. But that’s not the only financial challenge.
The school’s founders received more than $25 million since 2010, Hall said. He suggested that the solution to the law school’s “financial tailspin” was for InfiLaw to buyit. InfiLaw, however, temporarily suspended its request to buy the school last June.
Another problem according to one of three members on the school’s board, Ed Westbrook, is that the school is paying large management fees to InfiLaw, the Post and Courier says. Westbrook opposes the sale to InfiLaw.
InfiLaw critics have expressed concerns that a sale of the Charleston School of Law to the for-profit company would result in lower admissions standards and diminished reputation for the school.
