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Sixteen Medill present and former faculty members have signed and released a letter calling on Dean John Lavine to show his hand. They want a “more complete accounting than the dean has thus far provided” of the unattributed quotes Lavine used in a letter to alumni published in the Medill alumni magazine last year–quotes that it’s been suggested the dean concocted. “This matter has become a crisis for the school. The principles of truthfulness and transparency in reporting are at the core of Medill’s professional and academic mission,” says the faculty statement. It was delivered to Lavine with a cover letter signed by professors Craig LaMay, Donna Leff, and David Protess, all of whom teach ethics classes and who told Lavine “it would be unconscionable to maintain faculty silence on such a widely covered public issue.”
If Lavine feels he doesn’t have a friend at Medill, the fact is he had precious few before this scandal erupted. The journalism faculty feel disrespected since he became dean two years ago and ripped up the curriculum. Now they’ve got a chance to publicly disrespect him back.
