Chemerinsky coming back

UC Irvine made the announcement this morning, capping what must have been a wild and woolly weekend of negotiation. Chancellor Michael V. Drake traveled over the weekend to Durham, N.C., where Erwin Chemerinsky is a professor at Duke University, and the two reached an agreement last night, sources told the LAT. In a statement, Drake and Chemerinsky said, "Many issues were addressed in depth, including several areas of miscommunication and misunderstanding. All issues were resolved to our mutual satisfaction." Now that sounds warm and fuzzy. The statement also included this: "Our new law school will be founded on the bedrock principle of academic freedom. The chancellor reiterated his lifelong, unqualified commitment to academic freedom, which extends to every faculty member, including deans and other senior administrators." Here's the email that Chemerinsky sent out this morning:

It is with excitement and sadness that I am writing to tell you that I have accepted the position to be the founding dean of the Donald Bren School of Law at the University of California, Irvine. After meeting with Chancellor Michael Drake at length this weekend, I accepted his renewed offer. He provided me the greatest possible assurance of academic freedom for the dean and all faculty. It has been one of the strangest and most difficult weeks of my life. I cannot possibly express my thanks for all of the support that I received from the law school’s faculty, administrators, and students. I am sad to be leaving this wonderful supportive community, though excited about the new challenges ahead.

Here's the full statement by Drake and Chemerinsky:

We go forward with excitement and the unqualified belief that working together, we will create a truly outstanding law school. Throughout the past week, we have maintained an open dialogue. Over the weekend, Chancellor Michael Drake traveled to North Carolina to meet in person and at length with Professor Chemerinsky. Many issues were addressed in depth, including several areas of miscommunication and misunderstanding. All issues were resolved to our mutual satisfaction. Our new law school will be founded on the bedrock principle of academic freedom. The chancellor reiterated his lifelong, unqualified commitment to academic freedom, which extends to every faculty member, including deans and other senior administrators.

Professor Chemerinsky expressed his excitement at working with campus leadership in founding the new school and in representing and leading the school during its growth and development. We resolved to put recent events behind us and immediately begin to focus on our shared vision of creating a law school dedicated to providing the best education for future lawyers, to producing the finest legal scholarship, and to helping to address the legal needs of Orange County and the nation. The law school, like all great educational institutions, will be a place of great diversity, where differing viewpoints are nurtured, debated and cherished. Our goal is to create nothing less than one of the finest law schools in the country. We believe that together, and with the many talented faculty and staff at the University of California, Irvine, we will succeed.