For decades, UC Irvine has aspired to open Orange County's first top-flight law school, declaring it to be the university's glaring "missing piece."
The effort was thrown into turmoil after UCI Chancellor Michael V. Drake abruptly dropped respected liberal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky as the school's first dean. Drake said he had lost confidence in the educator, in part, because of Chemerinsky's recent opinion articles that made him a "lightning rod," including a scathing rebuke of U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales.
The action ignited a debate about academic freedom and political meddling that only grew more fierce Thursday, with some faculty members calling for Drake's resignation after a hastily scheduled meeting of the university's academic senate on Thursday afternoon.
Officials said the turnaround on Chemerinsky could delay the opening of the law school -- scheduled for 2009 -- and so tarnish the institution that it would be difficult to assemble the scholars and staff needed to establish the school as one of the nation's best -- UCI's long-cherished goal.
On Thursday, an open letter gathered 181 signatures in the first six hours it was posted on a website for students, faculty and staff. In part it said: "We are disturbed because of the deep violation both of the integrity of the university and of the intrusion of outrageously one-sided politics and unacceptable ideological considerations."
Social sciences professor Frank D. Bean said: "If it's a matter of outside pressure, the chancellor should have stood up to that. If it's a matter of concerns over Chemerinsky, why wasn't due diligence done? There are no scenarios that one can construct that are acceptable. Rarely are things so clear cut."
By the end of the day, Drake faced hundreds of faculty members at the senate meeting, and he struggled to squelch criticism.
The chancellor, speaking tentatively and choosing his words carefully, offered no additional detail on what led him to reverse his decision on Chemerinsky. He told the crowd, however, "My decision not to hire professor Chemerinsky had nothing to do with academic freedom or the infringement of academic freedom in any way."
Mark Warschauer, a professor of education, left the meeting saying he didn't think Drake's appearance would put the issue to rest. "I don't think this satisfies," he said.
