In this morning’s Inside Higher Ed:The major donor to the University of California at Irvine’s new law school was promised that the chancellor would “periodically and confidentially consult” with him about the selection of the first dean and future deans, the Los Angeles Times reported, based on a gift agreement it obtained. Irvine’s chancellor faced an uproar when he withdrew an offer of the dean’s job to a prominent legal scholar whose political views are to the left of those of the donor. The job was restored and the donor, Donald Bren, denied any involvement — a denial he reiterated to the Times after it obtained the gift agreement. That pact also suggests other matters of concern to Bren. For example, he was promised that signs on all law school buildings would read “Donald Bren School of Law” in lettering at least twice the size of the building name.
