The University of California, Irvine, has rehired Erwin Chemerinsky to be the dean of its law school, the university said Monday.
The move is aimed at stemming a controversy over an August job offer to the Duke University law professor that was withdrawn last week.
“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,” Chemerinsky and UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake said in a joint statement.
UCI withdrew its original offer after Chemerinsky wrote an opinion piece about a plan by former attorney general Alberto Gonzales that could make it harder for those on death row to appeal.
Media reports played the case as a matter of academic freedom. UCI officials worried about whether a high-profile dean was best for the law school, set to open in 2009.
