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The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

Many questions remain after DePaul College of Law dean’s resignation

With the law school dean recently announcing his departure and enrollment numbers falling since 2009, rumors circulate as the students at the DePaul College of Law try to find answers as to why these changes are occurring.

Law Dean Gregory Mark announced last week that he would be giving up his position to pursue other opportunities according to an email to faculty and staff from Interim Provost Patricia O’Donoghue. The dean plans on returning to the faculty in the fall of 2015.

Students continue to speculate the reason for his announcement, but the real reason remains unclear. One male law student, who preferred to remain nameless, thinks the announcement may have something to do with the law school’s employment numbers.

“I’m pretty hands-off about that stuff,” he said. “But I think they juiced up employment scores.”

Recent data shows that 75 percent of law graduates had found some sort of employment, according to an employment summary for 2012 graduates. This number has been on a steady decline since 2009 when it was as high as 93 percent.

To put this data into perspective, the college of law currently has 720 fulltime and 130 part-time students enrolled, creating a 13.85-to-1 student to faculty ratio, according to a 2013 information report. The current cost for a year of law school at DePaul is $44,999 for a full-time student. The employment data helps to reassure the 850 currently enrolled students that their graduated peers are finding work and that their high tuition expenses are justified in the long run.

This is not the first time the College of Law has been criticized over employment numbers. Two years ago, a lawsuit claiming the school had been acting “fast and loose” with its employment data was dismissed by a Cook County Judge, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.

The lawsuit was filed by a group of graduates and was thrown out because students “failed to allege the existence of any fraudulent misrepresentation.”

Another possible reason for the dean leaving could be linked to the student discord caused by DePaul dropping in the U.S. News rankings, according to an “Above the Law” article. Some students even insisted that some deans should be fired over the drop in rankings.

Mark responded with an email defending the school and putting the blame on the media.

DePaul College of Law hopeful Bob Bailey is not phased by the rumors surrounding the dean’s announcement.

“For me as a future law student, it’s interesting to see what direction the school takes,” Bailey said. “It’s all new to me.”

The dean’s departure may be nothing more than an amicable split with no sordid details to mull over at the water cooler, but mystery has surrounded the departure of DePaul College of Law deans in the past.

Former Dean Glen Weissenberger was removed from his position in 2009, and rumors are still circulating over the reason behind his firing, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog. The university stated they simply were no longer working well together, and Weissenberger said it was due to a letter he sent to the American Board Association.

Other law students are talking about the recent drop in enrollment. Natalie Foote, a student at the College of Law, has a two guesses as to the reason for the decline.

“Dropping in the rankings, if I were to guess,” Foote said. ” And all these articles about how law schools are becoming obsolete.”

The College of Law’s enrollment dropped 4 percent from 2012 and 17 percent from 2009. Unlike the dean’s departure, this is one law school rumor, though, that may have an explanation.

Michael Burns, dean of Admissions and Student Administration, said the enrollment numbers at law schools across the nation have dropped and that DePaul has chosen to limit the class sizes.

“Because of this declining applicant pool, the university and college of law made the decision to reduce the size of the entering class in an effort to maintain the high quality of entering law students,” Burns said. “A smaller class also benefits our graduates who will be competing for jobs in a tough market.”

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