Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Academic Freedom Part II: The Revenge

And just so there's no doubt in anybody's mind that academic freedom is a real issue with real consequences for delimiting what is sayable--and thus thinkable--I give you another link from today's LA Times.

Chemerinsky says UC Irvine rescinds offer to become law school dean

The constitutional scholar says university officials told him the deal was off to head the new school because he was too 'politically controversial.' Just days after he signed a contract to become the first dean of UC Irvine's new law school, Erwin Chemerinsky was told this week that the deal was off because he was too "politically controversial."

Chemerinsky said in an interview today that UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake had flown to North Carolina on Tuesday and told him at a hotel near the airport that that he did not realize the extent to which there were "conservatives out to get me."
Great. Now administrators are so worried about coming under the watchful eye of Gestapo that they're self-censoring and hiring to please the academic police. That's just great.

Thanks to Bill, Monu and Andy for the various links.

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