Cleveland Scene,Disgraced Former Case Western Law School Dean Writes About Changing His Name Without Mentioning All The Reasons He'd Disgraced His Former Name:
Lawrence Mitchell is now Ezra Wasserman Mitchell. That matters very little to most people but for some others it's certainly worth noting, because Lawrence Mitchell was the former law school dean at Case Western Reserve University.
Former is the key word there. Mitchell departed after the school settled a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit that, among other things, included multiple allegations that he'd propositioned students for threesomes.
He's dipped off the radar — moving away from Cleveland and recording himself reading creepy poetry — and now, Lawrence Mitchell is off the radar altogether.
In a post on his site Mitchell announces that he's changed his name to Ezra Wasserman Mitchell:
After almost two decades of indecision, I today emerged from the New York City Civil Courthouse as Ezra Wasserman Mitchell. For the two or three of you who are interested, I shall explain. ...
My name doesn’t fit for several reasons. Most basic — and least spiritual – is aesthetic. I have known several fine Lawrences and Larrys in my life. But I personally don’t like the way either name sounds. ...
[M]y Hebrew name — Eliezer Ezra ben Shlomo (or really the Yiddish-Hebrew Lazar Ezra ben Shlomo ) — does mean something to me. Of Ezra Ha’Sofer — the prophet who returned the people to Jerusalem and the Torah to the people following the Babylonian exile — it is said that if Moses had not received the Torah from Ha’Shem, Ezra would have been qualified to have done so. ... Ezra, to me, is softly melodic, while at the same time quite strong. ...
I have included Wasserman as part of my name. (וואסערמאנ in Yiddish.)
Whence the Wasserman? Here I present myself as a Jewish Kunte Kinte.
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