EDITORIAL: Chancellor owes the public answers

No one denies that UCI Chancellor Michael Drake should have carte blanche decision-making powers when choosing his deans.

Choosing the new dean of the planned UCI law school should be no different. So his decision to rescind an offer previously made to Duke University professor and noted legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky was well within his rights.

But the public, which has a vested interested in this institution of higher learning, also has a right to know why.

Why was Chemerinsky offered the job in the first place if he wasn’t qualified? Why is Chemerinsky good enough for USC and Duke University but not good enough for UCI?

Who or what persuaded Drake to change his position and take back the job offer?

Unfortunately, we don’t know because Drake isn’t answering any questions.

Instead, communications are coming forth through secondhand sources and rumors.

Not a good move for a university that has reached much more sophisticated heights than this.

Instead, a picture is being painted of a chancellor so kowtowed by conservative voices he was forced under pressure to sack a pre-eminent legal scholar because of his liberal leanings.

The move, if true, smacks of the bygone days of the county’s history, when ultra-right-wingers and John Birch Society members ruled the roost, and alternative thoughts, ideas or speech were quickly squelched.

Chemerinsky’s credentials speak for themselves. He is highly regarded and respected in all quarters, conservative and liberal alike.

His appointment as dean of the fledgling law school would have elevated the stature of the university on the national level.

Instead, the university is now the subject of national scorn.

Drake would be wise to change course. He should be forthcoming and explain the real reasons behind the rebuke of Chemerinsky.

He should explain to the public and his university staff exactly why Chemerinsky was not a good fit for the new school of law.

He should, quickly, name a new dean for the law school, one of equal stature to Chemerinsky, to ensure the school opens in 2009 as planned.

Already, some are questioning whether Drake is the right man to lead UCI after this debacle became public.

To prove that he is, it’s time that Drake gave us all some answers.