Dive Summary:
- A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided Monday that the firing of professor Lynn S. Branham by Thomas M. Cooley Law School was not improper, stating that her contract referred to the "concept of tenure" but did not define tenure as a right to continuous employment or create such an obligation.
- Branham, a former associate dean and professor at the private Michigan school, was dismissed from a one-year contract in December 2006, the final month on her contract, after refusing to teach the courses assigned to her following her return from a leave of absence, according to the school.
- A U.S. District Court also decided the case in the school's favor, and Branham's attorney contends that the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals sets a dangerous precedent for anybody who teaches, saying that any college or university wanting to abuse faculty can now "change the definition of tenure to mean pretty much nothing."
From the article:
A federal appellate court has sided with a private law school in a case brought by a professor who contends she was wrongly fired, and both sides say the ruling is important for how it defines the concept of tenure. The decision, issued on Monday by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, upholds a lower court's ruling that the termination of Lynn S. Branham, former associate dean and professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School, was not improper. ...