UC Chief Enlightens His Last Class at Irvine : Education: Constitutional scholar Jack Peltason is moving on to university system’s Berkeley headquarters. But he has not abandoned his role as a teacher.

The U.S. Constitution, politics and the federal judiciary can be deadly lecture material, guaranteed to put all but the most dedicated students to sleep. But in the hands of constitutional scholar Jack Peltason, these subjects are delivered with the kind of horse sense for which the chancellor of UC Irvine has become famous.

Take the current public distaste for politicians. “When I hear people say a politician is just doing something for the votes, well, that’s about as profound as saying a businessman is just in it for the money,” Peltason told 40 Irvine students Monday in a rare lecture, his last before leaving the school this fall to head the nine-campus University of California system.

Peltason, who ambled into the classroom minutes before his 9 a.m. lecture, clearly relishes such exchanges with students. It’s a chance, he says, to get back to his scholarly roots and away from problems of finances and budget, typical fare for a chancellor of a major university.

Things will be even tougher come Oct. 1, when he takes over as president of the UC system, succeeding David Gardner, who is retiring. Peltason will be grappling with anticipated cuts of at least 12% in the $2.1-billion budget originally proposed by the governor for UC. Since the state’s economic outlook is grim for the next few years, Peltason also will have to decide how and whether the system can still accept the top 12.5% of California’s high school graduates without eroding the quality of research and instruction that has gained the system a worldwide reputation.

“We may have to rethink the educational master plan and the mission of the university,” Peltason said in an interview after his lecture.

In a swan song of sorts Monday, the affable 68-year-old chancellor talked easily and without notes to the class, drawing on more than four decades of research on U.S. government. Yet even in a freshly pressed, impeccably tailored gray suit, Peltason at the lectern conveyed the air of a mumbling, absent-minded professor fond of self-deprecation.

“When I first started teaching a couple of hundred years ago . . . “ he began, only to be interrupted by a ripple of giggles down each row of desks.

Seeming oblivious to the laughter, Peltason plunged ahead with his lecture, saying that he no longer believes that the U.S. Supreme Court is part of an “independent power elite, divorced from the political process.”

He also skewered pundits who note the conservative shift of the court as if it were a new development.

“Presidents from Nixon to Reagan have said that if they were elected to office they would turn the court to the right. . . . They won, and they have,” he said.

Peltason enjoys direct exchanges with students on his beloved subject of politics. One student, for instance, wanted to know if he thought entrenched politicians should be turned out of office if they do not reflect the will of the people in their votes or actions. She cited U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) as an example of a hoary incumbent, remote from his constituents. Peltason smiled, his arms folded around his midsection.

“Who keeps electing him?” he asked in reply. “The people of Massachusetts.”

Students applauded Peltason when the class ended and the outgoing chancellor offered to “come back any time.”

He enjoys teaching so much that later this year when he moves up to the Bay Area, where UC’s headquarters are located, he plans to accept a UC Berkeley professor’s invitation to lecture there.

“I will find an opportunity to do it,” he said firmly.