Erwin Chemerinsky: Are We Ever Going To Find Out What Really Happened?
After several days of pretending to explain himself — while actually saying nothing at all — UCI chancellor Michael V. Drake had a few pastries and now apparently is ready to talk. Or not.
Drake had come under fire for firing legal scholar/pundit Erwin Chemerinsky immediately after hiring him to be UCI’s first law school dean. Well, now he’s hired Chemerinsky again, but at a press conference discussing the whole thing, Drake said nothing at all. According to News and Observer:
In a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Chemerinsky and Drake said what had earlier seemed to be disagreements evaporated during four to five hours of discussion over pastries at Chemerinsky’s home in Durham on Sunday.
But they declined to talk about the details of the meeting or say exactly what changed in order to reach a deal.
Drake said that Chemerinsky would have the same academic freedom as any other dean at UC-Irvine. Chemerinsky said he would continue to write op-ed pieces in newspapers, but recognized that anything a dean said publicly would have an effect on the school. He added, “I would never accept any professor’s position, any dean’s position or any other position where I felt I was being muzzled.”
Drake would not talk specifically about what led to the reconciliation.
“I was at a place last week where I needed more comfort,” he said. “I have that comfort now.”
We’re glad he’s comfortable. We’d be gladder, still, if he were illuminating.
