InBerkeley

Here’s a link to the email message Dean Christopher Edley of Berkeley Law School sent to UC Berkeley faculty, administration and students responding to substantial public protests surrounding Professor Yoo’s return to his tenured professorship in law at Berkeley.

My sense is that the vast majority of legal academics with a view of the matter disagree with substantial portions of Professor Yoo’s analyses; this includes most though perhaps not all of his Berkeley Law colleagues. If, however, this strong consensus were enough to fire or sanction someone, then academic freedom would be meaningless.

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I believe the crucial questions in view of our university mission are these: Was there clear professional misconduct—that is, some breach of the professional ethics applicable to a government attorney—material to Professor Yoo’s academic performance now? Did writing the memoranda, and any related acts, violate a criminal or comparable statute?
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Absent very substantial evidence on these questions, no university worthy of distinction should even contemplate dismissing a faculty member. That standard has not been met.

Mark Haas Education, Issues, Politics, UC Berkeley