Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Law School Pays Price For Violating The Herman B. Wells Rule

William Conour will be sentenced on Oct. 17. / Decatur County Sheriff's Department.
Indiana University officials announced plans to scrub the name of Indianapolis attorney William Conour from the Robert McKinney School of Law Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis after he pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges for diverting $4.5 million in client funds for his personal and business use. The Star's Tim Evans reports on the announcement following Conour's guilty plea:
A statement issued by IU said: “President Michael A. McRobbie today announced that, in light of the guilty plea submitted by Indianapolis attorney William Conour, he will recommend to the Indiana University Board of Trustees that the Conour name be removed from the IU McKinney School of Law atrium and that the naming of the atrium in honor of Mr. Conour be rescinded.
“McKinney School Dean Andrew Klein announced his full support of this decision as well as returning all of the funds received by the law school from Mr. Conour for the naming of the atrium to an appropriate fund for compensating the victims of Mr. Conour’s crimes.”
Mark Land, IU spokesman, said the recommendation to strip Conour’s name from the atrium will come at the next meeting of the school’s board of trustee, which is scheduled for Aug. 8 and 9.
Land added school officials are also looking into how to return the $450,000 donation that resulted in the atrium being named in Conour’s honor.
Former long-time IU Chancellor Herman B. Wells had a simple rule that was followed by the university for many years: "Nothing gets named for nobody until they are dead for 5 years." Any living person who conditions a donation of money based on something being named in their honor obviously suffers from a serious character flaw known as vanity. IU should seriously reconsider reinstating the Herman B. Wells Rule. It's only a matter of time before they suffer a similar embarrassment, particularly after naming their two law schools after two persons who may have made a lot of money but have contributed very little to the practice of law.

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