New dean at Columbia Law brings free expression experience
Daniel Abebe, vice provost for academic affairs and governance at the University of Chicago Law School, will become the dean of Columbia Law School on Aug. 1. (Photo courtesy of the University of Chicago/Higher Learning Commission)
Daniel Abebe, vice provost for academic affairs and governance at the University of Chicago Law School, will become the dean of Columbia Law School on Aug. 1.
In a June 17 announcement by Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia University, she called Abebe an inclusive leader who helped articulate the University of Chicago Law School’s free expression policy.
Abebe replaces Gillian Lester, who announced her decision to step down in November 2023.
Columbia has been the site of many protests since the Oct. 7, 2023, start of the Israel-Hamas war. The protests have led some federal judges to say they won’t hire clerks from Columbia Law or the Ivy League’s undergraduates.
U.S. News & World Report ranks Columbia Law at No. 8.
Abebe, who will be Columbia Law’s first Black dean, joined the University of Chicago Law School in 2008. His scholarship focuses on the relationship between the constitutional law of U.S. foreign affairs and public international law.
In February, the ABA House of Delegates passed a resolution to adopt a new rule requiring law schools to “protect the rights of faculty, students and staff to communicate ideas that may be controversial or unpopular, including through robust debate, demonstrations or protests.”
