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Anthony Varona, former dean of the University of Miami School of Law. Courtesy photo

Legal educators in South Florida and across the country have risen to the defense of ousted University of Miami law dean Anthony Varona, calling on campus leaders to reconsider their decision to push him out of the job and questioning whether his firing was motivated by bias.

Both the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) and the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Minority Groups have issued letters in recent days condemning Varona’s firing and raising questions about the real reason he was dismissed. Meanwhile, the law school’s tenured faculty and the university’s faculty senate adopted resolutions saying that University President Julio Frenk’s unilateral decision to fire Varona without consulting the law professors ran afoul of shared governance principles.