“I am confident that our search process will ultimately result in the appointment of a founding dean who will work with my colleagues and me to achieve our vision for the law school,” he said.
School officials would not elaborate on whether a second or third choice for the position was lined up, or exactly how the search committee will proceed.
Exactly why Chemerinsky was offered the dean position, which Drake knew about, and then let go four days after his signing, is also ambiguous. Efforts to reach Chemerinsky were unsuccessful.
Chemerinsky in an interview on KPCC-FM (89.3) Thursday morning said Drake admitted he was not prepared for the backlash from conservatives.
“[Drake] said I have proven to be too politically controversial. He hadn’t expected the extent of the opposition to my being hired,” Chemerinsky said.
In his statement, Drake said the decision was not ideological, political or personal.
“It was mine and mine alone,” he said. He added it was not based on donor or political pressure, but through a “culmination of decisions over a period of time” that convinced him Chemerinsky would not fit into his vision of the law school.
Cathy Lawhon UCI’s director of media relations, explained the decision this way: “Bits of information came to him [in those four days] and on [Sept. 11] he rescinded it.”
Law experts throughout Southern California agree the decision may hamper the search for a new dean.
“I suspect it’ll be harder to attract top-flight faculty when you have this kind of egg on your face,” said Bill Araiza associate dean of faculty at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “I would ask myself what the working environment would be like with this happening.”
