UC Irvine's law school opens its doors Monday, catering to 61 stellar students who will enjoy free tuition and a 3-1 student-instructor ratio.
For the school's dean, constitutional attorney Erwin Chemerinsky, the opening of the school is a dream come true.
"It's gone better than I could have ever hoped for and dreamed of," Chemerinsky said of the process leading to Monday's ribbon-cutting ceremony, a remark tinged with perhaps unintended irony, given that Chemerinsky was hired, fired and then re-hired by Chancellor Michael Drake in September 2007.
Conservative alumni and students had balked at the liberal professor's hiring and Drake decided to rescind his offer. That provoked a national outcry in academia, even from conservatives, so Drake offered the job to Chemerinsky again and he accepted.
Last quarter the two taught a civil rights class together that went swimmingly, Chemerinsky said.
"He's funny, he's direct," Chemerinsky said of Drake. "In the civil rights class he was remarkably willing to share with the students his own experiences as an African American, so when we talked about segregation he could talk about how as a child he had to stay a good distance away in a hotel when visiting Disneyland. This is a man who is a chancellor and to hear him talk about how the police have treated him is moving."
The law school's goal was to have 60 students in its inaugural class. It beat that goal by one student, Chemerinsky said. Moreover, the students' median GPA and LSAT scores put UC Irvine's law school on par with UCLA as a top 15 school in the nation, he said.
The university was able to select the cream of the crop thanks in part to full scholarships for the inaugural class. The scholarships were made possible by a $20 million donation from Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren.
Almost as novel is the 3-1 student-faculty ratio that the 61 students will enjoy, although that won't last forever; the school's goal is to grow to 600 students.
