SLU Law Dean Annette Clark Resigns Citing Numerous Disputes with President Fr. Biondi

As first reported by nextSTL, Dean Annette Clark has announced her resignation of the deanship at the Saint Louis University School of Law. Her appointment was announced in April of 2011 and she assumed the deanship July 1, 2011. In Janurary, after years of seeking a renovated home on the school's main Frost Campus, SLU announced that the law school would move to a new building in downtown St. Louis. This move is one issue cited cited by Clark for her resignation. "You acquired the building downtown and deemed it to be the new law school building without adequate investigation of its suitability and without any notice or consultation with the law school leadership," Clark wrote to SLU President Fr. Lawrence Biondi and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Manoj Patankar in her letter of resignation acquired by nextSTL and dated today.

In a letter to faculty and staff, Clark elaborates on the move, "I was kept completely in the dark regarding the acquisition of the building downtown and its designation as the new law school building, learning the news only three days before the announcement was made public." Clearly the move wasn't the only issue, as the resigniation letter and message to faculty and staff make clear. *update: Fr. Biondi has now released a letter that states, in part, that he had planned to terminate Dean Clark at a "regularly scheduled meeting" today. The meeting did not take place and Clark submitted her resignation. In his "special message", Biondi says, "Her emails...demonstrate a lack of a clear and comprehensive understanding of the duties and obligations, autonomy and authority, of a modern-day dean at a large and complex university." His letter is below. SLU Law Dean Annette E. Clark Resignation Letter 8-8-12