ADDENDUM::Mat Staver Resigns As Dean Of Liberty School Of Law - KATV - Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports

In my initial posting concerning Staver's resignation from Liberty School of Law, I tendered two possible extenuating reasons. The first being action in regards to the Jenkins/Miller custody case, specifically the civil RICO lawsuit. Or, possibly something to do with the leviathan that is Alliance Defending Freedom..

As of yet I haven't been able to confirm (in the works as I write)** whether the RICO lawsuit is still pending or if it was dismissed (Liberty Counsel was neck deep in this debacle), BUT there has been movement in the case as a whole:

Business owner Philip Zodhiates is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges he brought Lisa Miller to Buffalo in September 2009 and helped her and her daughter, Isabella, cross the border into Canada.

Zodhiates, Miller and missionary Timothy Miller were charged in a federal indictment LAST MONTH with international parental kidnapping and conspiracy, but only Zodhiates is believed to be in the country and available to answer the charges in court. He did not return a call for comment Tuesday.
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According to the New York indictment, Zodhiates, Lisa Miller and Isabella traveled from Virginia to Buffalo on Sept. 21, 2009. Zodhiates, the indictment said, spoke by phone with someone in Canada who agreed to helpMiller once she crossed the Rainbow Bridge into Niagara Falls, Ontario, the next day.

As for my speculation concerning ADF, it was in part based on information contained in two oft cited articles: The 800-Pound Gorilla Of The Christian Right and Not the ‘Illuminati': How Fundamentalist Christians Are Infiltrating State and Federal Government. From the latter article concerning ADF:

Suppose further that this plan had a scary simple strategy: Recruit bright, young law students; put them through an intensive indoctrination program; place them in plum internships across the country; and watch as they swim upstream until they reach the top of the legal system, where they can create, enforce, and interpret laws according to a legal philosophy infused with fundamentalist Christian theology.

Welcome to the world of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, an annual program established in 2000 by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based nonprofit that is swiftly emerging as a major behind-the-scenes player in many of the nation’s most controversial legal cases involving reproductive rights, sexual justice, and a vast range of other moral and social disputes.
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While participants hail from various denominations, they all commit to using their legal careers to “reorder society” according to a “christendomic” worldview, in which there is no separation between church and state.

BUT an interesting piece of information (attached article) was dropped in my lap the other day after my initial post, that MAY lend credence to my speculation.

The timing of the resignation comes at a time where the law school's resident enrollment is on the rise - up 25%.

However, the percentage of students passing the Virginia bar exam continues to decline.

In the July 2013 bar exam, just under 64% of Liberty Law students who were taking Virginia's exam for the first time passed it, ranking it 7th out of 8 law schools. In February 2014, the first time exam pass rate dropped to 60 percent, with LU's overall pass rate of 43 percent ranked last in the state. The most recent exam in July 2014 saw just half of first time test takers pass Virginia's bar.

These numbers do not include numbers for graduates who take the bar exam in other states and jurisdictions.

Staver's resignation could be as simple as his wife's health, but the demon on my shoulder is screaming NO!! There are multiple problems here:  the Jenkins/Miller kidnapping, declining test scores, his cash cow is in failing health (marriage equality is now legal in his "home" state), the rise of ADF, and Goodwin's resignation.

Now consider one point lost in all this that adds even more intrigue; it was mentioned in passing in a "non" press release concerning Goodwin and the Benny Hinn mess.

"The University will continue to rely on Dr. Godwin’s breadth of academic and administrative experience,” Falwell said in the release, which appeared on www.liberty.edu on Friday but was not sent to media outlets. “He will spend the next few years grooming his successors and guiding the team responsible for Liberty University’s pending ten year accreditation reaffirmation report.”

Liberty is up for recert on their accreditation in 2015. Lose accreditation, you lose all that lovely money that comes along with it; something I have highlighted extensively concerning the for-profit school racket. The fall-out experienced by the for-profit industry (Corinthian Colleges) would also be felt by Liberty.

Yes, they are cleaning house before the blizzard hits.

Mat Staver Resigns As Dean Of Liberty School Of Law - KATV - Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports

**Whilst I was putting this piece together, I was waiting on confirmation as to whether Jenkin's civil RICO lawsuit was still pending or if it had been dismissed.  Thanks to the work of a friend, I am able state that it was dismissed:

OPINION AND ORDER Defendant Douglas Wright's 40 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction is granted (defendant Wright is dismissed from case and Count Five of the Amended Complaint is dismissed)); Defendant Andrew Y oder's 62 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction is granted (defendant Yoder is dismissed from case); Defendant Christian Aid Ministries, Inc. 63 Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim upon Which Relief C an be Granted and for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction is granted for lack of personal jurisdiction (defendant Christian Aid Ministries is dismissed from case); Defendant Kenneth Miller's 56 Motion to Dismiss, or in the alternativ e, 56 Motion to Change Venue is granted in part and denied in part; Defendant Linda M. Wall's 109 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction, Improper Venue, and/or Failure to State a Claim Upon Which Relief Can Be Granted is granted in p art and denying in part; Defendants Liberty University, Inc., Thomas Road Baptist Church, Inc. and Victoria Hydens' 66 Re-filed Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction, Lack of Venue and Failure to State a Claim is granted in part and denied in part (defendants Liberty University and Thomas Road Baptist Church, Inc. are dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction); Counts Two and Three are dismissed against all defendants for failure to state claim; Count Four is dismissed with leave to move to amend within 60 days; Defendants Philip Zodhiates and Response Unlimited, Inc.'s 57 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction and Improper Venue are denied in part and denied in part as premature (plaintiff shall have 60 days to conduct jurisdictional discovery with respect to Response Unlimited, Inc.); Defendants Liberty University, Inc., Thomas Road Baptist Church, Inc. and Victoria Hyden's 67 Motion to Change Venue is denied. Signed by Judge William K. Sessions III on 10/24/2013. (law)