Fear and Loathing of Honest Debate Behind the Loss of Chemerinsky at UC Irvine Law School

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Hannah Beth Jackson
When I learned that UC Irvine had just hired Erwin Chemerinsky to become the first Dean of their newly created Law School, I was very impressed. It's quite rare for any law school to get one of the greatest legal scholars of our day as its chief. To get someone of Chemerinsky's stature to be the first dean of a new law school is an even greater coup. This is the real deal who was going to put a beleaguered UC Irvine on the map and very quickly.

I didn't think for a moment, "Wow, and now we'll start putting out progressive lawyers to match the thousands being rubber-stamped out of conservative institutions like those overrunning the federal government and the executive branch, in particular." What I thought, and apparently so many others who have worked with him or heard him speak think is that this University will become an institution of excellence and pride, with thoughtful and quality lawyers. With a dean of Chemerinsky's reputation, this school will quickly put itself on the map. Go UC Irvine! Not!

Just a week after hiring him and announcing his return to California after a 4 year hiatus from USC, the Chancellor of UC Irvine, Michael V. Drake, rescinded the offer. This cowardly act sets academic freedom and integrity back into the Bush era. This legal scholar, who the L.A. Times says stands out not for his liberalism, but for "the intellectual rigor of his analysis and the effectiveness of his argument."

Too controversial and too independent for the Chancellor's liking, apparently. What? You've landed one of the best constitutional scholars of our day, an expert in an area of the law fast disappearing into hysterical oblivion and you decide he's "not the right fit for the University"? That, of course, begs the question: What is this University's character? Is it the embarrassing controversies that have befallen the institution and in particular, its ethically challenged medical research facilities, that have embarrassed the school for over a decade? Or is it the school's mediocre standing in the ranks of the University of California? Whatever, here comes an enormously well-respected legal scholar--by conservative and liberal scholars alike--to bring excellence to the school and he's unceremoniously dumped because the Chancellor suddenly decides he's too liberal? What has happened to academic freedom? When did it become wrong to express ones beliefs and opinions---especially in defense of the constitution of this country? What happened to the pursuit of excellence in America-whether academia, politics or any other field of endeavor?