I don’t know why or how UC Irvine could get away with the almost instantaneous hiring and firing of Professor Chemerinsky on apparently political grounds. No one has questioned either his competence or the conditions under which he was first hired (he wasn’t passed over in the selection process).
Instead, his left-wing political views apparently came to light and, mirabile dictu, now precluded his appointment. Surely UCI should promptly rehire him, even if he scares away a few big-time donors (I doubt that with Hollywood nearby).
As someone who often ran into political correctness in California universities, I am surprised at the crudity of Chemerinsky’s firing; usually these wrong things are done more stealthily and don’t reach the point where the politically bothersome candidate is actually hired. Administrators for such top-level appointments know the general outlines of the selection developing in advance–or they aren’t really administrators as I knew them.
The Chancellor’s “trust-me” administrationese account of the firing (“…. Professor Chemerinsky and I would not be able to partner effectively to build a world-class law school at UC Irvine”). only made things even more dubious
Hire him back. Apologize. Avoid a law suit–and then put up with his occasional editorializing. We have too many law schools as it is, so a new one at Irvine does not need to offer instant proof of why we don’t need another.