Law School administrators confirmed Monday that 10 of their alumni have stopped donating to the school because of the employment of faculty member Bernardine Dohrn, bringing Northwestern’s total retracted contributions to $11,300.
Annina Fabbioli, director of development law, said 15 people last week ceased contributions to NU because of Dohrn, a former radical protester with the Weather Underground who has served as director of the Family and Justice Center for the last 10 years. The 15 individuals include 10 Law School alumni and five undergraduate alumni.
Although the alumni informed the schools last week that they would not be donating, no additional people said they would stop contributing on Monday. “We haven’t seen any real changes,” Fabbioli said.
Although Dohrn’s actions 30 years ago have caused concern as the country reacts to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, longtime Law School faculty members said her appointment in 1991 did not draw the same level of controversy then.
Law Prof. Ronald Allen said Dohrn has not come under scrutiny since her arrival in 1991. She was hired by former Dean Robert Bennett, who led the school from 1985 to 1995.
“There is a conception that she is a member of the faculty, but her hiring was done exclusively by the dean as a low-level administrator and was never dealt with as a faculty issue,” said Allen, who has been at the school since 1984. “Some individuals were upset back then, and others thought she deserved a chance to make a positive contribution. But it was never under the faculty’s purview.”
In addition to heightened sensitivity to terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks, Dohrn also has been the focus of recent media attention because of a new memoir by her husband and former Weatherman Bill Ayers, recounting their days as fugitives.
Ayers, a member of the education faculty of the University of Illinois at Chicago, has generated similar protests at that school. UIC spokesman Mark Rosati said the university has received 60 to 70 complaints about Ayers’ employment from concerned alumni and members of the public.
None of the upset people had donated to UIC in the past, but they told the university they definitely would not in the future if Ayers stayed on staff, Rosati said.
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