Opinion: Drake/Chemerinksy joint press release

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We are very pleased to announce that Erwin Chemerinsky, the Alston & Bird Professor of Law and Political Science at Duke University, has been offered and has accepted the position of founding dean of the Donald Bren School of Law at the University of California, Irvine. As always, the appointment must be approved by the UC Board of Regents. We go forward with excitement and the unqualified belief that working together, we will create a truly outstanding law school.

Throughout the past week, we have maintained an open dialogue. Over the weekend,

Chancellor Michael Drake traveled to North Carolina to meet in person and at length with Professor Chemerinsky. Many issues were addressed in depth, including several areas of miscommunication and misunderstanding. All issues were resolved to our mutual satisfaction.

Our new law school will be founded on the bedrock principle of academic freedom.

The chancellor reiterated his lifelong, unqualified commitment to academic freedom, which extends to every faculty member, including deans and other senior administrators.

Professor Chemerinsky expressed his excitement at working with campus leadership in founding the new school and in representing and leading the school during its growth and development.

We resolved to put recent events behind us and immediately begin to focus on our shared vision of creating a law school dedicated to providing the best education for future lawyers, to producing the finest legal scholarship, and to helping to address the legal needs of Orange County and the nation. The law school, like all great educational institutions, will be a place of great diversity, where differing viewpoints are nurtured, debated and cherished.

Our goal is to create nothing less than one of the finest law schools in the country.

We believe that together, and with the many talented faculty and staff at the University of California, Irvine, we will succeed.

Michael V. Drake Erwin Chemerinsky

Chancellor Alston & Bird Professor of Law and Political Science

University of California, Irvine Duke University