Lawrence Connell, a tenured law professor has filed suit for defamation against Widener University School of Law, claiming that the dean has “destroyed” his reputation because of his “conservative political and legal beliefs” and has a “vendetta” against him.
It is the latest salvo in a feud that started in December when Dean Linda Ammons, who is black, placed Connell, who is white, on leave with pay for allegedly making racist and sexist comments and using offensive language in his criminal law class. She also banned him from campus.
“She has retaliated against me with lie after lie because she thinks I called her a “pumpkin head” in a classroom example teaching students about the law of attempted murder,” Connell said.
Students in Connell’s Spring 2010 and Fall 2010 classes complained that he used “excessive profanity,” referred to African Americans as “black folks,” referred to a female police officer as a “honey,” and used a hypothetical in which Connell tried to kill Ammons but instead shot a pumpkin that looked like her.
Ammons moved for a dismissal for cause in late February, alleging that Connell, who has been at the school for 26 years, also made statements such as, “all criminals are poor and all poor are black folk,” and “You mean to tell me, if you see two black men walking, you are not going to cross the street?” Ammons further claimed that Connell refused to follow the university’s internal procedures and meet with an administrator without counsel present.
In early March, a law school tenured faculty committee recommended that the university not pursue dismissal, citing academic freedom. But two female minority students then filed claims under the university’s discrimination and harassment code, which will be heard by university administrators.
Connell said that Ammons had the two students file the charges, a claim that she denies. He said his lawsuit is a result of his impending dismissal.
“I take this step because there is no doubt that the hanging kangaroo court Ammons has created to try me will soon fire me based on her reckless and false charges that I am a racist, a sexist and a threat to the physical safety of the Widener student community,” he said.
Connell has said that it has been well known since 2002 that he is conservative, and that he is one of only two conservative faculty members on the 60-member law faculty. He said the local newspaper has published several of his letters where he has criticized the Obama administration on topics such as immigration policy, the ban on deep water drilling and the demonization of the Tea Party.
Ammons said in a statement that she would make no further comments.
“I have no intention of responding to his allegations in the news media,” she said.
Other law professors have come to Connell’s defense in regards to the use of hypotheticals in class. Orin Kerr, a law professor at George Washington University School of Law, wrote an affidavit that explained that criminal law professors commonly use the names of other professors and deans in morbid hypotheticals.
“I suppose over the years I’ve murdered pretty much every 1st-year teacher — and certainly all my Deans — and they’ve all murdered me, too, he wrote. “All during in-class hypos, mind you.”
Connell said he was suing in order to ensure no disruption in his medical coverage, so that he could maintain coverage for a daughter who was permanently disabled and institutionalized. However, on the day he announced the filing of the suit, his daughter died.
