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Myers resigning dean post after Sunshine lawsuit filed

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Law School Dean Gary Myers resigned Friday morning, the day after a lawsuit was filed accusing him of conspiring to keep records from being made public. Sources tell the Missouri Times that Myers resigned at an 8 a.m. meeting. Myers said the in a letter to colleagues that he had been thinking about resigning for a couple of months. “In the last few months, I have had a number of conversations with Provost Garnett Stokes regarding my future plans. I am writing to share with you my decision to step away as Dean of the University of Missouri School of Law at the end of the summer,” he wrote, adding he will remain at the university. “I look forward to working on two book projects and various interdisciplinary initiatives in the new academic year” The Law School Foundation Board praised Myers’ work as dean in a statement. “Dean Myers has done an excellent job at the law school, and his enthusiasm and innovative ideas will be sorely missed,” said Rodney Loomer, the board’s president. “During his tenure the clinical program offerings have expanded, student credentials have improved and the bar pass rate and employment rate of graduates have continued to remain strong. Further, alumni investment has become very strong for the various initiatives Dean Myers has achieved. He has certainly left the law school in a very good position for the next dean.” Kevin Elmer brought the lawsuit seeking information and public documents about professor Josh Hawley, who is running for attorney general.

Myers
Myers

In the lawsuit, emails were released showing that Myers didn’t want to release emails and documents because he was worried they might produce too much information about the school’s tenure process. Hawley has been offered tenure upon his return from a leave of absence. “I believe that Josh’s email raises serious questions regarding the scope and applicability of open records law as it relates to the university and our faculty,” he wrote in an email to Hawley; Stephen J. Owens, the school’s general counsel; and Paul Maguffee, a deputy general counsel. “Turning over correspondence and documents belonging to individual faculty will set a precedent deeply harmful to academic freedom. To the extent this record request also seeks information related to Professor Hawley’s tenure application and the tenure decision-making process, the request similarly threatens the integrity of the University’s tenure procedures.” The lawsuit also says Myers was part of an agreement to allow Hawley to improperly review his own documents to determine what could be released. “An arrangement was brokered between the Custodian, Hawley and Myers to allow Hawley to determine what records were to even be considered for review by the Custodian, let alone produced to Mr. Elmer,” the lawsuit says. “Hawley and Myers agreed that Hawley could syphon e-mails concerning what he subjectively believed to be “University business” from his computer and limit the Custodian’s review to such e-mails.” The school says the lawsuit had nothing to do with Myers resignation as dean. “The recently filed lawsuit that names Dean Myers as one of the parties was not one of the factors in him stepping down,” said Christian Basi, a university spokesman. “He has been thinking about stepping down for some time.” Myers will take a sabbatical while writing his two books.