AMSOL Board of Governors' Statement

Note that of the four members who left the Board, all but Professor Rice wanted to resign from it. Further note that Dean Dobranski and Tom Monaghan are due to be removed via term limits in the near future unless they rescind or change the language of this by-law. The dean and the Board have not offered any satisfactory explanation for this change and so it is obvious it was to remove Professor Rice from the Board due to his letter sent to the Naples Daily News earlier this year, as well as his vocal opposition at the previous Board meeting to Tom Monaghan and a move to Florida and concern over an increasingly non-Catholic student body.

The Board of Governors of the Ave Maria School of Law met today and had extensive discussion to amend its by-laws to limit its board members to two consecutive three-year terms. The language adopted is as follows:

“It is the sense of the Board that service on the Board be limited to two consecutive three year terms. However, those members whose terms have expired may be returned to the Board after three years. Further, it is also the sense of the Board that such members shall be invited to serve on an Ave Maria School of Law Board of Advisors, to be created. In light of the above, the Board recommends that the existing by-laws be amended, to the extent necessary, to reflect the above decisions. Board members whose terms expired on June 30, 2005, and there after, will continue to serve until the by-laws are amended, and their successors are appointed by the Board.”

The four existing members of the board who will be rotating off the board are The Honorable James L. Buckley, The Honorable William P. Clark, The Honorable Henry Hyde and Professor Charles E. Rice. Four new Board Members will be announced at a later date.

The vote was 12 to 2 in favor of the sense of the Board. The two dissenting votes were cast by Professor Rice and The Honorable James J. Ryan.