Matthew Lahey has left his position as Oberlin’s general counsel. Lahey began a new position at Lehigh University this summer, where he will serve as a vice president, general counsel, and secretary of the board.
Josh Nolan will serve as interim general counsel while the College conducts a national search for Lahey’s replacement, according to Oberlin Director of Media Relations Andrea Simakis.
Nolan is a partner at the law firm Bricker Graydon, where he has worked since 2023. He holds a law degree from the University of Akron and describes himself as a higher education attorney. His professional profile states that he “manages Title IX, FERPA, and Clery Act compliance and has drafted and reviewed student conduct, speech codes, and crisis management policies and procedures.”
“Josh is no stranger to Oberlin, having served as our interim general counsel from 2021-2022,” Simakis said. “He brings extensive experience in higher education law and is well-versed in legal and regulatory challenges such as Title IX, privacy law compliance, and student mental health intervention.”
As chief legal officer of the institution, the general counsel oversees all legal matters for Oberlin College and Conservatory. In his position as general counsel, Lahey also served as a vice president of the College and as a liaison between college administration and the Board of Trustees.
During his three-year tenure, Lahey routinely ranked among Oberlin’s highest-paid executive officers, according to publicly accessible IRS filings. For the fiscal year ending in June 2024, Lahey was paid more than $350,000 for his work for the College.
Lahey’s appointment was controversial at the time of his hiring in 2022, with alumni, faculty, and staff objecting to his self-description of “union avoidance” as a skill. The phrase has since been removed from Lahey’s professional profile.
Responding to the controversy that surrounded his hiring, Lahey stated that he did not believe the inclusion of the phrase on his profile accurately reflected the totality of his professional record.
“I’m proud of the work that I did in the labor space,” Lahey told a Review reporter at the time. “Negotiating collective bargaining agreements and working with labor organizations to achieve collective goals. … I think the characterization of union avoidance is not an accurate representation of the actual labor work that I’ve done in representing companies.”
The controversy came at a contentious time in the College’s relationship with organized labor. In the spring of 2020, the College outsourced 108 unionized jobs to AVI Foodsystems, sparking protests. All affected employees were given the option to stay on, and AVI agreed to honor all seniority, rates of pay, and other benefits.
Simakis said the College plans to conduct a national search to find a replacement for Lahey.
“While we do not have a timeline,” Simakis said, “we are committed, however long it might take, to identify and hire the best possible candidate for Oberlin.”
