{"id":143253,"date":"2026-02-03T16:38:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/03\/fired-arkansas-law-dean-gets-wave-of-support-from-law-professors\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T16:38:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:38:40","slug":"fired-arkansas-law-dean-gets-wave-of-support-from-law-professors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/03\/fired-arkansas-law-dean-gets-wave-of-support-from-law-professors\/","title":{"rendered":"Fired Arkansas Law Dean Gets Wave Of Support From Law Professors"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what has to be one of the most ridiculous reasons to get a job offer rescinded, the University of Arkansas \u2013 Fayetteville reneged on Emily Suski position as the school\u2019s next dean because she signed off on an amicus brief supporting a student\u2019s rights. After finding out that she signed on to the brief, Arkansas senator Bart Hester Karen-ed and suggested to cut the school\u2019s funding until the school decided that they were better off continuing their year job candidate hunt rather than let Suski do the job. Law students quickly came out in support<\/a> of Suski and protested the school\u2019s cave-in to Hester and friends. S<\/p>\n

tudents aren\u2019t the only ones showing support \u2014 law professors are also in Suski\u2019s corner. Law.com<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

More than 175 law professors from across the country signed a letter sent to the Arkansas General Assembly and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders expressing \u201cprofound concern\u201d over the revocation of Emily Suski\u2019s offer to become dean of the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) School of Law.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs her friends and colleagues, we are of course disappointed by this outcome, for her sake,\u201d the signatories wrote in the Feb. 1 letter, which was obtained by Law.com. But more importantly, as lawyers and law professors, we are deeply disturbed by the process that yielded this result, and its consequences for academic freedom and the full participation of academics in the legal process.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The threat to academic freedom is a serious one. There are manifold things a professor or dean could say that go against state doxa or otherwise conform with the law that shouldn\u2019t be punishable events such as: adults having sex with 15 year olds is prima facie statutory rape no matter how much Megyn Kelly tries to minimize it<\/a>, that immigrants aren\u2019t the population you should focus on<\/a> if you really want to cut down on crime, or simply throwing a curse word at the president<\/a>. If the attack on academic freedom continues, it is only a matter of time before a professor gets in trouble for saying ICE should be abolished, even though you can find people making that argument for years<\/a>. Or maybe a professor will be fired or worse after the government makes good on their promise that you can\u2019t call them gestapo <\/a>or call what\u2019s going on fascism (even though one leading fascism scholar left ages ago because he saw the writing on the wall<\/a>). <\/p>\n

If law professors, protected by the expectation that what they say actually has research behind it (and occasionally tenure) aren\u2019t able to show support and speak freely, it will chill the speech of students who have even less protection.<\/p>\n

Over 175 Law Professors Sign Letter to Protest Arkansas Law Deanship Revocation<\/a> [Law.com]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Law Students Protest Culture War Dean Firing<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Fired Arkansas Law Dean Gets Wave Of Support From Law Professors<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In what has to be one of the most ridiculous reasons to get a job offer rescinded, the University of Arkansas \u2013 Fayetteville reneged on Emily Suski position as the school\u2019s next dean because she signed off on an amicus brief supporting a student\u2019s rights. After finding out that she signed on to the brief, Arkansas senator Bart Hester Karen-ed and suggested to cut the school\u2019s funding until the school decided that they were better off continuing their year job candidate hunt rather than let Suski do the job. Law students quickly came out in support<\/a> of Suski and protested the school\u2019s cave-in to Hester and friends. S<\/p>\n

tudents aren\u2019t the only ones showing support \u2014 law professors are also in Suski\u2019s corner. Law.com<\/a> has coverage:<\/p>\n

\n

More than 175 law professors from across the country signed a letter sent to the Arkansas General Assembly and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders expressing \u201cprofound concern\u201d over the revocation of Emily Suski\u2019s offer to become dean of the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) School of Law.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs her friends and colleagues, we are of course disappointed by this outcome, for her sake,\u201d the signatories wrote in the Feb. 1 letter, which was obtained by Law.com. But more importantly, as lawyers and law professors, we are deeply disturbed by the process that yielded this result, and its consequences for academic freedom and the full participation of academics in the legal process.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The threat to academic freedom is a serious one. There are manifold things a professor or dean could say that go against state doxa or otherwise conform with the law that shouldn\u2019t be punishable events such as: adults having sex with 15 year olds is prima facie statutory rape no matter how much Megyn Kelly tries to minimize it<\/a>, that immigrants aren\u2019t the population you should focus on<\/a> if you really want to cut down on crime, or simply throwing a curse word at the president<\/a>. If the attack on academic freedom continues, it is only a matter of time before a professor gets in trouble for saying ICE should be abolished, even though you can find people making that argument for years<\/a>. Or maybe a professor will be fired or worse after the government makes good on their promise that you can\u2019t call them gestapo <\/a>or call what\u2019s going on fascism (even though one leading fascism scholar left ages ago because he saw the writing on the wall<\/a>). <\/p>\n

If law professors, protected by the expectation that what they say actually has research behind it (and occasionally tenure) aren\u2019t able to show support and speak freely, it will chill the speech of students who have even less protection.<\/p>\n

Over 175 Law Professors Sign Letter to Protest Arkansas Law Deanship Revocation<\/a> [Law.com]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Law Students Protest Culture War Dean Firing<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Fired Arkansas Law Dean Gets Wave Of Support From Law Professors<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In what has to be one of the most ridiculous reasons to get a job offer rescinded, the University of Arkansas \u2013 Fayetteville reneged on Emily Suski position as the school\u2019s next dean because she signed off on an amicus brief supporting a student\u2019s rights. After finding out that she signed on to the brief, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":143254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Chris-Williams-2025-a5xTgI.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}