-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: September 15, 2007 6:44:16 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Purging the Academic World of Anti-Busheviks, Cont'd
GOP politician sent email asking
how to stop naming of dean
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press, September 14, 2007
http://www.kcbs.com/topic/ap_news.php?story=AP/APTV/State/CA/n/CA--
RejectedDean
IRVINE, Calif. (AP) A conservative Los Angeles County politician
asked about two dozen people in an e-mail last month how to prevent
the University of California, Irvine from hiring renowned liberal
scholar Erwin Chemerinsky as its founding law school dean, a
spokesman for the politician said Friday.
Making Chemerinsky the head of the law school ``would be like
appointing al-Qaida in charge of homeland security,'' Michael
Antonovich, a longtime Republican member of the county Board of
Supervisors, said in a voicemail left with The Associated Press.
He was not available for further comment on why he was getting
involved in the situation at a campus located outside his
jurisdiction in Orange County.
Antonovich's e-mail ``expressed his dismay with the choice for the
dean of the law school and suggested that this was the wrong
decision and it should be changed,'' said Tony Bell, a spokesman
for the supervisor.
Antonovich, a local GOP stalwart, was first elected in 1980. He is
a staunch conservative who has supported crackdowns on illegal
immigrants, and voted against tax increases and HIV-prevention
programs that distribute free syringes.
He clashed with Chemerinsky in the past when the professor
supported the removal of a cross from the county seal.
The Antonovich e-mail was disclosed after UCI Chancellor Michael V.
Drake withdrew an offer earlier this week to appoint Chemerinsky to
the law school post.
Chemerinsky, a frequent legal commentator who represented exposed
CIA agent Valerie Plame, has repeatedly said Drake told him he was
out because he was ``too politically controversial'' due to his
liberal activism.
The dismissal outraged UCI's faculty members, who launched an
online petition urging Drake to reconsider his decision. By Friday,
more than 350 faculty, students and alumni had signed the petition.
Some were calling for Drake's resignation.
Faculty on the dean selection committee also warned that the
opening date of the law school, set for 2009, might be delayed
because of the time needed to find a new candidate.
``What's happened here is so outrageous, it's beyond anything that
anybody could have imagined happening,'' said Mark P. Petracca,
chair of the political science department.
Petracca said professors were angry that Drake hasn't given a full
explanation for his decision, except to say at a faculty meeting
Thursday that he spoke with 12 people about Chemerinsky before
withdrawing the offer. He wouldn't say who those people were,
Petracca said.
``What information did the chancellor get? We don't know that and
the chancellor's silence on that leaves the door open for people to
speculate on Erwin's character,'' he said. ``Politically, it would
be the best thing for all parties involved ... if (Drake) were to
resign.''
Chemerinsky did not return calls on Friday. In an earlier
interview, however, he said Drake met with him Tuesday and told him
he was too controversial and that some members of the University of
California system Board of Regents opposed the appointment.
Since then, several board members including California Assembly
Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles have said they were not
consulted on Chemerinsky and didn't oppose him.
In a statement on his Web site, Drake disputed Chemerinsky's
version of events and said the decision to withdraw his job offer
was a management decision that has nothing to do with politics.
``It was not based on donor pressure or political pressure; it was
based on a culmination of discussions over a period of time that
convinced me we could not effectively partner to build a world-
class law school at UC Irvine,'' Drake wrote.
The chancellor did not return calls Friday seeking further comment.
An academic assembly meeting was expected next week, Petracca said,
where professors might consider a vote of no-confidence against
Drake and pass a resolution calling for his decision to be rescinded.
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