UPenn President Liz Magill Resigns Following Congressional Testimony Performance

President only since July 2022, University of Pennsylvania President M. Elizabeth Magill resigned December 9, 2023 following an abysmal performance at a Congressional hearing where she could not bring herself to admit that calling for the genocide of Jewish people violates the University’s Code of Conduct and exceeds the boundaries of protected free speech.

While Board Chairman Scott Bok (who also resigned and who is a lawyer) tried to explain that Magill was over-prepared for her testimony and had “lawyered up” giving a more lawyerly answer rather than a moral answer to a question from Rep. Stefanik, the irony is that Magill is seasoned lawyer with a prior stellar career.

Magill earned her JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. Upon graduation she clerked for Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. With a long career in academia, Magill served the University of Virginia faculty for 15 years where she was also a vice dean. She left there to become the Dean of Stanford Law School.  After a seven-year tenure, she returned to the University of Virginia to sere as Executive Vice President and Provost, the position she had prior to the UPenn appointment.

University of Nebraska at Kearney Chancellor Lawyer Doug Kristensen to Retire

Attorney Doug Kristensen, the longest serving Chancellor at the University of Nebraska, is set to retire at the end of the academic year after serving 22 years. Following a one-year leave, he plans to return to the University to work on strategic projects. Kristensen is also the longest currently-serving leader of any Nebraska institutions of higher education.

Appointed in 2002, Kristensen had previously service in the Nebraska State Legislature (Senate) where he was, at the time, the longest serving speaker in the history of the Legislature. While serving in the Legislature, he also practiced law at Lieske & Kristensen in Minden, Nebraska.

Kristensen earned his law degree from Drake University School of Law.

Jennifer Mnookin, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison - Lauded in Legal Ethics Roundup

In this week's Legal Ethics Roundup by Professor Renee Knake Jefferson, Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics & Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center, Professor Jefferson gives a shout out to former UCLA law dean and now Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Jennifer Mnookin, for her message to the University community titled, Choosing Humility, Not Hate to help the campus through challenging times. Professor Jefferson teaches, among other things, a course in leadership. Active in higher education leadership, Professor Jefferson is also a trustee of Michigan State University.

Chancellor Mnookin had a successful 8-year tenure at UCLA prior to joining UW. Prior to joining UCLA she taught at the University of Virginia School of Law and at Harvard Law School. She received her J.D. from Yale Law School, and a Ph.D. in History and Social Study of Science and Technology from M.I.T.