Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
For the record, and for the purpose of ensuring that all the aspects of this matter are in your
hands, I need to explain and clarify my previous submission to your Committee.
The facts and circumstances of former-Dean Makau Mutua’s multiple perjuries and obstructions
of justice are reported in the news dispatches and editorials that I have enclosed with this letter.
Entirely apart from the subject of my complaint to your agency, these documents are compelling
evidence that SUNY Buffalo has been operating as a rogue law school, beset by malicious and
criminal misconduct in its Dean’s Office, for the better part of the past decade.
It was only after these crimes against the judicial process became impossible to sustain that the
Attorney General switched to the theory that the Policies of the Board of Trustees prohibit long
term contracts throughout the SUNY system, including the SUNY Buffalo Law School. This
University, at that point, took the bizarre position that its Law School is maintaining a counterfeit
ABA accreditation with bogus contracts, phony personnel rules, and sham faculty appointments.
That turned out to be the winning argument and it represents a rule of general application that
nullifies the 405(c)-protected contract of each and every clinical professor in the Law School.
The U.S. Court of Appeals at oral argument intimated that if I have a problem with the ABA’s
accreditation practices, I should take it up with you. In other words, the issue of SUNY
Buffalo’s fraudulent compliance with Standard 405(c) lies within your jurisdiction, not theirs.
I had notified your Committee of my concern about SUNY Buffalo prior to your last site visit in
April of 2016. Your accreditation counsel notified me that she had referred the matter to its Site
Visit Committee, but she did not follow-up to tell me how it was resolved. I renewed my
complaint after the Second Circuit’s ruling in October of 2017, which I submitted to your
Committee as conclusive evidence of SUNY Buffalo’s non-compliance.
Your final answer was to inform me that your Committee finds no violation of Standard 405(c).
I believe that this peremptory dismissal was arbitrary and capricious. I wish that you would
reconsider your finding in light of the following undeniable facts.
• In the 2008-2009 accreditation cycle your Committee refused to reaccredit SUNY Buffalo
until it retained the services of a law librarian who holds an M.L.S. degree. You are now
refusing to acknowledge an intentional violation of a core academic freedom standard, upon
which hundreds of legal educators throughout the United States depend for their careers and
livelihoods, even though that violation has been definitively confirmed by a decision of the U.S.
Court of Appeals.
• SUNY Buffalo has knowingly and willfully subverted the integrity of the accreditation process
by making false certifications of compliance with Standard 405(c) in both its 2009 and 2016
reaccreditations. According to your own Rules of Procedure, those violations warrant the most
severe punitive measures against the offending law school. See Rule 16 (a)-(e). Your
accreditation counsel, however, has informed me that you decline to find any violation at all.
• Finally, every legal educator in the United States is aware that when a clinical professor at an
ABA-accredited law school is terminated from a 405(c)-protected position, the stigma of a “for
cause” dismissal precludes that person from ever again working in the field of legal education.
Because you persist in your endorsement of SUNY Buffalo’s compliance with Standard 405(c),
which you know is a fraud, I believe that the stigma I have suffered, along with my ensuing costs
and damages, may be found in a court of law to be the responsibility of your Committee.
I conclude by saying that I do not consider this matter closed. I will leave it at that for now,
except to express my hope that I have persuaded you of the urgency and gravity of this situation
and that you will respond by informing me that you have taken action to deal with SUNY
Buffalo at the very next meeting of your Committee.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Malkan
12 Valleywood Ct. W
Saint James, NY 11780
http://www.ubspectrum.com/news/view.php/849284/Law-school-Dean-Makau-Mutua-
resigns-
Law school Dean Makau Mutua has resigned from his position, effective Dec. 19. Mutua said it was the “right time”
for him to leave his postion and continue to teach because he’s accomplished what he set out to do as dean. He is
currently facing allegations of lying in federal court.
Courtesy of UB News Center
Law school Dean Makau Mutua has resigned. The resignation comes amid allegations that he lied in
federal court and in a state administrative proceeding.
The alleged lying under oath stems from a 2011 case filed by Jeffrey Malkan who says the dean
wrongfully terminated his contract as a clinical professor. Malkan had signed a contract in November
2006 that stated he could only be fired for cause in accordance to the law school accreditation
standard. Two months after becoming dean, Mutua terminated the contract.
The suit also alleges that Malkan was denied due process under the 14th Amendment.
Mutua, who has been dean for seven years, will step down officially on Dec. 19, but he will continue
to teach at UB as a SUNY Distinguished Professor and Floyd H. and Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar.
Mutua is a Harvard graduate and a well-known leader in international human rights.
Provost Charles Zukoski sent an email to faculty Monday announcing the resignation. He did not
mention the lawsuit in the email, but focused on Mutua’s accomplishments as dean, which include
recruiting 22 new faculty members, offering more experiential learning opportunities for students and
fundraising $23 million.
“I decided to step down because it was the right time: A seven-year tenure is twice as long as the
typical tenure for a law dean, and I’ve accomplished what I set out to do,” Mutua said in a written
statement to The Spectrum.
Faculty and students interviewed by The Spectrum offered tepid to scathing critiques of Mutua’s
tenure and many students insist they have never seen Mutua on campus nor interacted with him. In
October 2010, the law school faculty attempted to hold a vote of no confidence in Mutua, but the
attempt was dismissed by then President John B. Simpson and then Provost Satish Tripathi,
according to email correspondence obtained by The Spectrum in 2013.
Like many law schools across the country, UB’s law school has been retrenching in recent years and
in March, the school announced its plans to shrink its incoming class from 200-225 students to fewer
than 200 and to reduce its faculty from 48 to 40.
The Malkan case began in 2011 and names both Mutua and law professor Charles Ewing, who
served as head of the law school grievance committee that heard Malkan’s complaint. The federal
case, in U.S. district court, is now at the stage of considering summary judgment, which involves
whether the case can go forward to trial. The newest development in the case came in August when
Ewing filed a motion to have his case separated from Mutua’s. In the motion, Ewing’s lawyers argue
Ewing was an “innocent bystander,” who got caught in the disagreements between Malkan and
Mutua.
Therefore, Ewing has asked the court to separate his case from Mutua’s “to avoid foreseeable ‘spill-
over effect’ and indelible prejudice,” against him in light of the false testimony allegations against
Mutua.
Ewing could not be reached for comment, but on Tuesday Malkan told The Spectrum Ewing’s
involvement was “marginal” and that “he wasn’t responsible for the wrongdoing.” Malkan said his
lawyers have “put papers in to dismiss [Ewing] from the lawsuit.”
“I’ve been so frustrated for the last couple of years,” Malkan said. “I couldn’t believe Mutua was still
in the dean’s office with these allegations over his head. There’s no way a dean can function until his
name is cleared.”
The motion to separate the trials highlights the significance of the perjury allegations, which stem
from testimony Mutua gave regarding a faculty vote on Malkan’s promotion to clinical professor at a
Committee on Clinical Promotion and Renewal (CCPR) meeting. Seven faculty members testified
that the vote took place. Mutua said under oath the vote did not take place, rather that it was a vote
to retain Malkan as a director of the Research and Writing program.
Mutua also testified former UB President William Greiner, who was a member of the law school
faculty, spoke at the meeting. UB law faculty members testified Greiner was not at the meeting.
Malkan said that at the time of the 2006 CCPR meeting, Greiner was sick and not regularly attending
faculty meetings. Greiner died in 2009.
When Mutua was asked to produce Malkan’s promotion dossier – an official document a person up
for promotion needs to prepare – for the court, the dean said it had disappeared. He said he didn’t
know what happened to it and it was missing when he took over the dean’s office.
Malkan said Tuesday it was an “obstruction of evidence.”
“It’s unthinkable that a dean of a law school would commit perjury and subvert the process and
actually produce a miscarriage of justice,” Malkan said.
The university said it does not comment on pending litigation.
The Spectrum reached out to numerous law professors and students, most of whom declined to go
on the record about the atmosphere of the law school and the allegations against Mutua.
However, The Spectrum has pieced together a paper trail that indicates discontent, which includes
the October 2010 attempt by three tenured faculty members to hold a meeting to request a vote of
no confidence in Mutua.
Former President John B. Simpson and then Provost Satish Tripathi asked the faculty to attend the
meeting that would be held on Oct. 22, according to emails obtained by The Spectrum in 2013.
Mutua declined the meeting despite receiving a request signed by three members of the faculty in
accordance with faculty bylaws.
On Oct. 25, following a faculty meeting on Oct. 22, Simpson and Tripathi sent an email to the faculty
addressing the meeting regarding Mutua.
Law faculty said they never took a no confidence vote in Mutua, but voted to put the matter on the
agenda again. It triggered a meeting with Tripathi and Simpson, who told the faculty the
administration was not interested in their concerns about the law school leadership, according to
professors in the law school.
UB policy states that deans should be reviewed every five years. Mutua was dean for six and a half
years before a review was initiated, according to emails obtained by The Spectrum.
In February 2014, UB and SUNY Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Frank Bright, who headed
Mutua’s review committee, sent an email to the law school faculty saying a “five year review” of
Mutua was beginning.
Mutua began as interim dean in late 2007 after Nils Olsen stepped down. A press release
announced his appointment as dean in May 2008. Some law school professors question the process
that led to Mutua’s appointment because he didn’t go through a full and regular search process,
according to law school faculty. Tripathi appointed him after a failed national search. But UB
Spokesman John Della Contrada said, “there was nothing out of the ordinary about the search.”
The results of Mutua’s decanal review, which was completed around May 2014, are confidential,
according to Bright.
However, Provost Zukoski sent out an email to those who participated in Mutua’s review on July 1.
The letter outlines the law school’s accomplishments under Mutua, including improving the number
of law graduates who pass the bar, improving infrastructure and increasing fundraising efforts.
The letter states that Zukoski discussed the review results with Mutua and alludes to concerns of
faculty members.
“Through the decanal review process, Law School faculty and staff have raised issues of concern to
me as provost,” Zukoski wrote. “These issues have strained relationships within the school and
created tension around leadership and unit cohesion.”
The letter does not indicate if the decanal review process had an effect on Mutua’s position as dean.
Della Contrada said “input by faculty, staff, students and members of the community is a vital part” of
the decanal review process.
Malkan is suing for $1.3 million in damages and said he has essentially been blacklisted in his
profession because Mutua not only fired him, but also would not write him a letter of
recommendation.
“The university always settles these cases and no one could understand why after the first six
months, ‘Why couldn’t they just let you go?’” Malkan said. “I would have just left. Just give me one
semester salary like some little severance pay and a letter of recommendation, like a letter of good
standing, and I could have found another job and I would have been out of here.”
Malkan said he views Mutua’s resignation as a relief, and said he was surprised Mutua was allowed
to remain dean with lying under oath allegations lingering.
In a university release, Zukoski praised Mutua for what he has accomplished in his time as dean.
“He has led the school through a nationally challenging time for legal education, while strengthening
the school’s programs and faculty and advancing UB’s teaching, research and engagement
missions,” Zukoski said.
Tripathi expressed his thanks to Mutua, who has been in the law school since 1996, and
appreciation for his service to the university in the same release, stating the law school is “well
positioned to achieve even greater prominence in legal education and scholarship.”
James Milles, a law professor who teaches legal ethics at UB, said those accomplishments Zukoski
pointed out in the letter to faculty would not have happened without the hard work of the entire
faculty.
“We’ve got a solid and dedicated group of faculty and staff without whom all those accomplishments
would not have been done and they will continue to do great things in the future,” he said.
Mutua, a native of Kenya, is active in Kenyan politics and writes political columns for Kenyan news
sites. He received a doctor of juridical science degree in 1987 from Harvard Law School, he served
on the Iran tribunal hearing in 2012 and was elected vice president of the American Society of
International Law in 2011.
Mutua’s position as dean and the inherent credibility that comes with it has allowed him to serve on
the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Moreland Commission,
which was supposed to root out political corruption, but was shut down early.
Sam Benatovich, a second-year law student who has never met the dean in person, said the
allegations Mutua is facing are troubling. He said the law school’s program focuses on integrity and
students have to take a class on ethics in the legal profession.
If the allegations prove to be true, Benatovich said, “the dean of a law school can’t flagrantly
disregard the foundation of our legal system. It sends mixed messages as an educator. It’s not just
wrong, but downright repugnant to create the next generation of lawyers while flaunting your lack of
respect for the legal standards.”
email: news@ubspectrum.com
This article has updated to clairfy the difference between allegations and charges.
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/university-at-buffalo/deep-rift-exposed-as-ub-laws-dean-
resigns-20140927
http://www.ubspectrum.com/news/view.php/849579/Mutuas-unsettling-tenure-
email: editorial@ubspectrum.com