According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Tom Keefe, the interim law school dean has resigned. Keefe has had the position since August. He said he is stepping down because he is “too politically incorrect to be a dean.”
Keefe cited inappropriate remarks he made about Native Americans and another comment which was perceived as sexual harassment.
“In the beginning I gave an interview and I stuck my foot in my mouth, and I’ve been sticking my foot in my mouth ever since,” said Keefe.
Keefe took the position following the abrupt resignation of the previous dean, Annette E. Clark.
“It is the ultimate irony that a Jesuit university would operate so far outside the bounds of common decency, collegiality, professionalism and integrity,” wrote Clark in her resignation letter to University President Fr. Lawrence Biondi.
Clark, who had been in the position for a year, accused the president of using law school money for general university purposes, contrary to agreements made with the law school.
In her place, Keefe was named as interim dean.
As previously reported by The Cardinal Newman Society, Keefe had represented a mother in a 2010 “wrongful life” lawsuit, claiming that doctors had failed to detect that the woman’s child had a congenital condition leading to the loss of the baby’s left foot. Had she known, the woman said she would have aborted the baby.
The University plans to name a permanent dean soon. A search committee has selected Michael Wolff and Anthony Chivetta as finalists.
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