Erwin Chemerinsky, hired then fired last week as Dean for the new law school at UC-Irvine, has accepted a renewed offer from the school to be its inaugural leader. The new dean has these words for his colleagues at Duke:

It is with excitement and sadness that I am writing to tell you that I have accepted the position to be the founding dean of the Donald Bren School of Law at the University of California, Irvine. After meeting with Chancellor Michael Drake at length this weekend, I accepted his renewed offer. He provided me the greatest possible assurance of academic freedom for the dean and all faculty.

It has been one of the strangest and most difficult weeks of my life. I cannot possibly express my thanks for all of the support that I received from the law school’s faculty, administrators, and students. I am sad to be leaving this wonderful supportive community, though excited about the new challenges ahead.

Given the uproar surrounding Drake's withdrawal of the original offer, this was just about the only way the University could save face and open on time.

[WSJ Law Blog] Breaking News: Chemerinsky Accepts Irvine’s Renewed Offer

From Brian Leiter's Law School Reports:

About a week ago, Erwin Chemerinsky, the well-known constitutional law scholar at Duke, signed a contract to be the inaugural Dean of the new law school at the University of California at Irvine.

Yesterday, the Chancellor of the University of Cailfornia at Irvine flew to Durham and fired Chemerinsky, saying that he had not been aware of how Chemerinsky's political views would make him a target for criticism from conservatives.

Inappropriate political influences aside, how on earth does a university chancellor get all the way through an interview process with Erwin Chemerinsky and not know that he'd be criticized by conservatives? Seriously.

[Brian Leiter's Law School Reports] New UC Irvine Law School Hires Chemerinsky as Dean, Then Fires Him for Political Reasons