LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — After a month and a half in administrative limbo, Dr. Wael Sakr is walking back into his office at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine. What sent him out the door in the first place, though, remains a secret.
The pathologist and longtime dean was placed on leave in mid-August with no explanation, a gag order on faculty contact, and a cloud of speculation overhead. Nearly 200 professors erupted, calling the silence “defamation by implication” and demanding his return unless credible allegations surfaced.
Sakr himself told colleagues the claims had nothing to do with sexual misconduct, finances, or race, The Detroit News reported.
The controversy didn’t stop there, however. The interim dean, Dr. David Rosenberg, quit in protest after learning faculty had been cut out of the process, calling Sakr a man of “good character with unwavering devotion” to Wayne State. The fallout then reached the president’s office, where Kimberly Andrews Espy resigned last week after trustees soured on her handling of the crisis.
Now, with Sakr returning on Sept. 29, the university has yet to explain who investigated the allegations, what they were, or why faculty were told to steer clear of their dean.
For Wayne State, reinstatement may close the vacancy, but not the questions.