Bush Torture Memo Author Yoo Gets New Gig

Overruled:

Academic freedom is very important. Universities exist to produce knowledge, unconstrained by political winds or the whims of wealthy donors. If professors live in fear of termination without good cause, they cannot contribute their university's mission.

So even though I would have fired John Yoo from the Berkeley faculty--not because of his repugnant viewpoints, but because his incompetent representation of a former client, the United States of America, calls into question his ethical fitness to train young lawyers--I am sympathetic to the reasons why Berkeley allows him to stay.

Read the whole story: Overruled

Comments

[helonias]

10:52 AM on 02/13/2009

John Yoo= torturing human being for Jesus

[S1m0n]

10:48 AM on 02/13/2009

John Yoo's failings have nothing to do with academia, so calling this a tenure issue is a red herring. This is criminal issue: there is every reason to suspect that Yoo was closely involved in a criminal conspiracy. Until that matter is cleared up, he is unqualified to take up any new academic position.

[sophistwatch]

10:13 AM on 02/13/2009

It is a good time to be a criminal.

[Topsailsman]

09:32 AM on 02/13/2009

Gee, when I read the headline I thought he went to work for the RNC, he could be in charge of t0rturng logic.

[Ping]

09:01 AM on 02/13/2009

One day justice will be served and John Yoo will understand the true meaning of torture.

[CAHertzfe]

01:38 AM on 02/13/2009

Only 61% of their graduates pass the state bar exam. That says enough.

[CAHertzfe]

01:39 AM on 02/13/2009

Makes ya wonder about their ethics ratings of their lawyers who do pass.

[ThinkCreeps]

01:59 AM on 02/13/2009

But... the 61% that do pass have a great record of success in the state disbar proceeding.

[mynameismimi]

12:34 AM on 02/13/2009

I imagine a defense team at the Hague is going to cost bundle - he needs to earn as much money as he can.

[ThinkCreeps]

01:56 AM on 02/13/2009

Naah.. he's a top man - he can do his own defense. Especially as he clearly knows so much about th law on torture.

[research]

12:22 AM on 02/13/2009

he's a war criminal.

[Cinnamonape]

08:50 PM on 02/12/2009

Sorry...while I believe in academic freedom, I also have to point out that Yoo's hiring and tenure process avoided Cal's own long-established criteria involving residency and teaching. Yoo was granted tenure in far less than 5 years (he had taught at Boalt only three and spent much of the previous and subsequent years on leave...outside academia).

At the end of his term in the WH he almost immediately became a visiting scholar elsewhere, and was granted leave for this...not once...but twice. Now he's doing it yet again!

Visiting Professor, Chapman College, 2009
Distinguished Fulbright Chair in Law, University of Trento (Italy), 2006.
Returns to UC Berkeley- teaching minimal classload; appointed to externally funded institute 2004-2005; 2007-08
Visiting Scholar, American Enterprise Institute, 2003-present.
Visiting Professor, University of Chicago Law School, 2003.
Office of Legal Counsel, United States DOJ, 2001-03.
Yoo taught as an Asst Professor at Boalt 1997-2000 (3 years in residence)
Judiciary Committee, United States Senate General Counsel, 1995-96; Justice Clarence Thomas, clerk, 1994-95

[Cianciarulo]

06:53 PM on 02/12/2009

I am a professor at Chapman Law School. I would like to clarify a couple of points that have been raised on this and other blogs and media sites. First, Professor Yoo is a visitor, not a permanent faculty member. The faculty has no input in deciding whom the dean may appoint as a visitor; it is entirely within the purview and authority of the law school dean to appoint visiting faculty. That being said, it should be pointed out that the dean has brought ideologically diverse faculty to our campus, including those with whom he has strong disagreements.

Second, Professor Yoo’s opinions, whether or not they are protected by academic freedom, do not reflect the views or perspectives of this faculty as a whole. We have a very ideologically diverse faculty covering a wide range of views on a wide range of topics. More specifically, we have permanent faculty who specialize in human rights, immigration reform, domestic violence prevention, elder law, responsible fiscal policy, gender equality, racial equality, and marriage equality for same-sex couples. As an example, fourteen Chapman Law faculty members recently joined in an Amicus brief filed in the California Supreme Court in support of those who wish to overturn California’s Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage initiative.

Regardless of your opinion of Professor Yoo, I ask you to judge Chapman on the outstanding quality of our faculty, students, and programs, and not on one visiting appointment.

[ThinkCreeps]

08:02 PM on 02/12/2009

Funniest thing I've read for a while. At least it was coherent. The interesting thing is the views of the faculty on `human rights, immigration reform, domestic violence prevention, elder law, responsible fiscal policy, gender equality, racial equality, and marriage equality for same-sex couples'. Broadly against I suspect? And, even accepting that the faculty is a bastion of free thought and reason, what about the student body?

Granted though.. Yoo's about the only visitor who could tarnish Chapman's reputation.

[MsLiz]

09:54 PM on 02/12/2009

You write well, perhaps you should update your resume'.

[outnow]

06:08 PM on 02/12/2009

Chapman Law School is a part of a right-wing religious institution (University?) in Orange County, California, where the conservative bastions still exist. Yoo loves torture so he would be advised to attend a Chapman football game. Most good high school teams can beat Chapman. I actually went to a Chapman football game with the student body president who was being recruited for the new law school. He turned the University down for the "law school gig" which he instinctively knew was just another political move for conservatives-in-training. Four years was enough for him at Chapman as an undergraduate.

Boalt Hall should not fire Yoo until he is proven to be a war criminal. But Chapman University School of Law will welcome such as man to counter the new "liberal" UCI School of Law where Cherwinski is dean.

Taking Constitutional Law under Yoo would not prepare the student for passing the bar exam if the Committee of Bar Examiners in California tests "generally accepted rules of law." Yoo's Memo(s) are examples of poorly written and reasoned ad hoc garbage, according to most legal scholars. He merely reasons to his pre-ordained conclusion that "torture is beautiful."

[imusintheevening]

05:25 PM on 02/12/2009

I think he should be allowed to pursue work in his field until he is found guilty of his crimes. Then he should be disbarred and jailed. The sooner the better.

[fgr1111]

04:53 PM on 02/12/2009

"I am sympathetic to the reasons why Berkeley allows him to stay."
Being sympathetic does not preclude the option of prosecution for Treason, National Security endangerment, and other International Laws - established by the USA.
Now, UC Berkley students ought to apply what they learn in Constitutional Law and slam this "prof" into gitmo while they still have vacancies. (for all the Bush Co.). Wouldn't that be unreal !!

[Paxhope]

03:59 PM on 02/12/2009

It's time for protests at Berkeley again, isn't it?

[ThinkCreeps]

03:50 PM on 02/12/2009

It's tough for Berkeley - they're bound absolutely by academic freedom to keep him, even though he should be on trial for inciting torture and further drags their name through the mud by accepting a visiting position at Chapman University.

The neatest solution to getting him off campus would be a long jail sentence.

[magibrotherhood]

04:00 PM on 02/12/2009

b.u$hCo. indictment list no doubt includes this dude-----

[pjburke]

03:12 AM on 02/13/2009

"The neatest solution to getting him off campus would be a long jail sentence."

Indeed... and perhaps he could even take up that time-honored tradition of jailbirds...

he could learn the law.