They’re Timid, Not (Always) Leftist

The University of California, Irvine, has just made what appears to be a truly boneheaded move by withdrawing a left-wing law professors’ nomination to run the law school. The scholar, Erwin Chemerinsky, has strong left-wing views but seems universally acknowledged to be a top-notch mind and good administrator.

This seems to prove a theory I’ve long held: Very few university administrators are actually the visigoths in tweed that right-wingers (including, well, me) have sometimes painted them as. Instead, they’re just afraid of offending anybody and kowtow to anybody who yells loudly enough.

I was gratified to see that more than a few prominent conservatives are defending Chemerinsky. Of course, the widespread support for him seems to indicate that even the Right likely wouldn’t have gotten angry over his appointment. Which leads me to believe that the people running the University of California system are just a bunch of cowards.