John Rumel

John Rumel comes to USF Law as a Visiting Professor, having served for many years as a Professor at the University of Idaho College of Law and, both during and before that time, at Gonzaga University and Santa Clara University Schools of Law. Prior to joining the University of Idaho Law Faculty full-time, Professor Rumel worked for fifteen years as the General Counsel for the Idaho Education Association, Idaho’s teachers’ union. Professor Rumel’s visitorship is a homecoming for him, since, prior to moving to Idaho, he lived two blocks from and studied at Kendrick Hall while attending the law school formerly known as Hastings and served as a federal judicial clerk and practiced law in San Francisco for several years.
     
Professor Rumel enjoys collecting and listening to a wide variety of contemporary music, having produced Blues music shows in his Boise, Idaho hometown and assisted in the production of a Tribute CD honoring legendary folk singer Rosalie Sorrels. He also enjoys hiking. Notwithstanding his employment at the University of Idaho and at USF, Professor Rumel is a long-time Boise State football and Gonzaga basketball fan.

• K-12 education law
• Public sector employment and labor law
• Civil procedure
• Evidence

• Education law
• Employment law
• Employment discrimination law
• Labor law

• UC Hastings College of Law (now known as UC San Francisco College of Law), JD 1981
• UC Santa Cruz, Double Major, BA in History and Politics, 1977

• Professor, University of Idaho College of Law
• Associate Professor, University of Idaho College of Law
• Adjunct Faculty Member, Gonzaga University School of Law
• Adjunct Faculty Member, University of Idaho College of Law
• Visiting Associate and Visiting Assistant Professor, Santa Clara University School of Law

• University of Idaho and/or College of Law 2023 University of Idaho Alumni Award for Excellence, Inspirational Mentor
• Outstanding Faculty Member, College of Law — Boise Campus (voted on by Boise campus students and given “in recognition of exceptional service to students and excellence in education”), 2016
• Distinguished Lawyer Award (given by the Idaho State Bar “to an attorney (or attorneys) each year who has distinguished the profession through exemplary conduct and many years of dedicated service to the profession and to Idaho citizens”), 2015
• University of Idaho Alumni Award for Excellence, Inspirational Mentor, 2015
• University of Idaho Alumni Award for Excellence, Inspirational Mentor, 2014
• University of Idaho Alumni Award for Excellence, Inspirational Mentor, 2012

• Let’s Get Critical: The Rights and Obligations of School District Stakeholders under State Laws Limiting or Banning Discussion of Critical Race Theory in K-12 Classrooms, 2024 B.Y.U. Educ. & L. J. 33 (peer reviewed publication)
• Has the Idaho Supreme Court Wrongly Limited Wrongful Discharge in Contravention of Public Policy Claims? 59 Idaho L. Rev. 263 (2023)
• Promises Made, Promises Broken: The Anatomy of Idaho’s School Funding Litigation, 57 Idaho L. Rev. 381 (2021) (selected as a finalist for the Education Law Association’s 2023 Steven S. Goldberg Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Education Law)
• Beyond Abercrombie and Heffernan: Toward a Uniform Approach to Discrimination and Retaliation Claims Based on Misperception Theory in the Employment Context, 24 Employee Rts. & Emp. Pol’y J. 189 (2020) (peer reviewed publication)
• Statewide and Local Teacher Strikes Since Spring 2018: A Comparative Analysis, 374 Ed. Law Rptr. 24 (2020)