Interesting article in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education: Duquesne U. Law Professor Defends His Own Tenure Case, by Katherine Mangan & Paul Fain:

John T. Rago spends much of his time working to free wrongly convicted prisoners, but in April, the assistant professor of law at Duquesne University won a reversal in a more personal matter: his own tenure case.

Mr. Rago chairs a statewide committee that studies wrongful convictions in Pennsylvania. He is also founding director of the university’s Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law and founder of the law school’s Post Conviction DNA Project.

In March of 2006, Charles J. Dougherty, Duquesne’s president, rejected Mr. Rago’s bid for tenure, despite positive recommendations from faculty members and Dean Donald J. Guter of the Law School. …

Last year the Student Government Association voted to challenge Mr. Dougherty’s decision. This past February, a university grievance committee unanimously voted to recommend that the president rescind his decision. In April about 150 students protested at the administration building. Six days after the protest, Mr. Rago received a letter from the president that was as succinct as the negative one he had received a little over a year ago. "This is to inform you that your application for tenure is successful," the letter stated. "I appreciate your important contribution to the university and look forward to your future successes."