KIDS THESE DAYS:

One of the best lessons to be learned from the drama at UC Irvine over the past few weeks is smart people can do dumb things.

In case you were too busy following the progress of the Los Angeles Angels (a name I’ll never fully accept) or watching last week’s spectacular storm, here’s a summary.

On Sept. 4, UCI Chancellor Michael Drake hired Erwin Chemerinsky to be the dean of the university’s new law school. A few days later, he rescinded his offer. A few days after that, he reinstated his offer, all the while proclaiming outside influences (i.e. well-placed people), had nothing to do with his decision.

So many retorts, so little space, so let’s move on.

Michael Drake is a smart guy. I know, even though I’ve never met him, because it is nearly impossible to rise through the ranks to his position without facing tremendous scrutiny.

But smart people can be poor managers.

What Michael Drake did was not bring ridicule to the school, or hire the right or wrong dean, he exposed himself as a weak manager, as a flip-flopper, so to speak.

More than the donors and more than the faculty, Drake has alienated the students on the campus by, my guess, listening to the narrow opinions of those who believe students’ malleable minds would be warped by the liberal leanings of Chemerinsky.

The fact is that by the time they get to college, most kids already have their core beliefs established.

By the time they get to college, these kids are either doing drugs or they are not. They are either drinking to excess on occasion or they are not. And nearly every single one of them has an opinion about George W. Bush.

Both of our kids, now 14 and 17, don’t care much for Bush and would not vote for him if they were able. But in our discussions, I try to get them to understand things are not always the way they appear and there are subtleties to most situations that should cause us to take a closer look.

College is a special time in one’s life because it provides many opportunities to discuss life’s subtleties, before we enter the workforce and are told the bottom line is everything.

In my second year of college, my political science professor was a communist. She did not wear a badge announcing it, nor did she ever tell the class. But I spoke to her enough to know that was her belief.

I was 19, liberal, believed in capitalism and not about to change my mind. What I appreciated were the debates she inspired in class and with me. And when she gave me a short list of books, I read each and still did not change my mind.

I’m sorry Drake had to find out the hard way that he doesn’t always call the shots at school. But I’d rather have my kids go to a school where things can change because of new information or developments rather than one that insists on sticking to a rigid set of beliefs that stifles debate. Especially if the school’s chancellor is the one making the changes.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.