To those following the UCI law school story, here’s the latest from the LAT: Chemerinsky is back as UC Irvine dean
UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake and Erwin Chemerinsky have reached an agreement that will return the liberal legal scholar to the dean’s post at the university’s new law school, the university announced this morning.
With the deal, they hope to end the controversy that erupted when Chemerinsky was dropped as the first dean of the Donald Bren School of Law.
Drake traveled over the weekend to Durham, N.C., where Chemerinsky is a professor at Duke University, and the two reached an agreement about midnight Sunday, sources told The Times.
Must’ve been some meeting.
I was figuring that it would end up like this, as Drake had a great deal of PR damage to fix, and if the school had to start all over again, the law school’s opening might have been delayed—not to mention that Drake’s job and career path were being significantly threatened.
On that latter point, Drake’s judgment certainly will remain under public scrutiny. If anything the fact that he allowed this situation to threaten the law school’s Fall 2025 opening is enough to question Drake’s managerial skills.
Previous blogging on this subject:
September 18th, 2025 at 11:30 am
[...] Cross-posted from PoliBlog: [...]