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Chemerinsky Recalls Hiring, Firing, Rehiring at UC Irvine

Posted Sep 26, 2008, 04:55 am CDT
By Molly McDonough

Constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, who last year was recruited, hired, then publicly fired and run through the ringer before being hired again, describes the experience as "the most difficult of my life."

But Chemerinsky says that the ordeal that led to his installation as the first dean of the University of California Irvine has been overshadowed by the reception he's received from the the legal community, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Chemerinsky, well-known for his politically liberal viewpoints, was lured from Duke University to the Irvine post. But he had spent 20 years before that at the University of Southern California. It was the academic's ideology that last year caused Irvine's chancellor, Michael Drake, to waffle over his offer to hire Chemerinsky and rescind the deal. Drake later changed his mind and rehired Chemerinsky.

"I hope that once they get to know us they will see that we have a law school that has no ideology. We want a law school where all views are expressed," Chemerinsky is quoted saying.

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