UC Irvine gave Orange County billionaire Donald Bren the right to be consulted in the selection of a dean for its new law school in return for his $20-million donation, according to documents released to The Times on Thursday.
The eight-page gift agreement reveals the scope of what Bren received for his money, ranging from major matters such as selection of the dean to specific rules governing how prominently signs featuring his name were to be displayed on the campus.
Signs on law school buildings must read "Donald Bren School of Law" and be at least twice the size of the building name. Bren's must be the largest and most prominently displayed name on the building, according to the agreement.
Chancellor Michael Drake in September abruptly fired Erwin Chemerinsky as founding dean -- even before he announced his selection publicly -- only to offer him the job again five days later after a national outcry ensued.
Despite the agreement, Bren's foundation insisted Thursday that it had nothing to do with the Chemerinsky matter.
The June agreement required the UCI chancellor and the chair of the law school dean search committee to "periodically and confidentially consult" with the Donald Bren Foundation in choosing a dean and for any future dean searches, including information on leading candidates.
Drake said in September that he had no conversations with Bren or his advisors about Chemerinsky.
A spokesman for Bren said at the time that the Irvine Co. chairman had nothing to do with the ouster. In a statement issued Thursday, the Bren Foundation said, "neither the Foundation nor Mr. Bren was consulted prior to the hiring, and as we've stated before, Mr. Bren didn't know enough about Dr. Chemerinsky to offer an opinion, and has not offered an opinion on Dr. Chemerinsky in the past or up to this moment."
Asked if UCI broke the agreement by not consulting with Bren, foundation spokesman John Christensen said, "It was a courtesy, it didn't happen, and we're looking forward to a world-class law school at UCI."
Drake did not respond to calls seeking comment Thursday.
Jeffrey S. Brand, dean of the University of San Francisco School of Law, said he would never enter into a confidentiality clause like the one between UCI and Bren, although he said he was not suggesting that UCI had ceded its dean-selection authority. He called the language in the agreement "dangerous" and said it "could be viewed as a subterfuge permitting undue influence."
