A source close to the administration has passed along an email from Dean Edley. The email, sent to Boalt staff, reads in its entirety:
Dear Colleagues:
Paralleling the pace of the presidential campaign, the frequency of questions - or innuendos - I hear about my career plans is climbing. I write to share my thinking.
My term as dean ends in 16 months, so that next academic year would ordinarily be the time to conduct a search. A few weeks ago, however, I accepted Provost Breslauer's invitation to start the performance review process required to continue beyond my five-year term as dean. The first step is for me to write a self-evaluation, which the Provost will share with members of our community for comment. At some point he will appoint a secret committee. There will be more discussion. Still later, there will be smoke. I suppose.
What about, uh, external developments? Force majeure? People don't quite believe me when I explain that I have no Potomac Fever. I had richly satisfying tours of duty on the Carter and Clinton White House staffs, and have had entirely too much experience in national politics. I dislike political campaigns, and have been drawn into a limited role in the Obama campaign purely by the accident of being his friend and former teacher.
To the point: If Obama is elected, I will not seek a position. I have already told him so and chatted with him about how I might be helpful without leaving Berkeley. (I believe it is implausible, though not logically impossible, that he would try to draft me for something.) If my wife gets an offer she can't refuse from a new Administration, her sisters in Los Angeles have developed a contingency plan. Maria would commute from D.C., and one of her sisters would move here to help me with our kids. Two of the sisters have offered.
I have fallen completely and totally in love with Berkeley and Boalt. Just no other way to say it. I imagine finishing out my career here. I look forward to life on the faculty teaching, writing, the Warren Institute, sailing. We love our house, our colleagues, our friends; the weather's not bad, and the earthquakes no longer give me nightmares.
And, like the faculty and staff, all the students are above average.
-----
Christopher Edley, Jr.
Dean and Orrick Professor of Law
Boalt Hall, U.C. Berkeley
Well folks, there you have it. Dean Edley is not only staying, he plans to "finish out" his career here. A little surprising, given that Edley sightings at Boalt are more rare than Registrar sightings after 4pm. I'm not sure whether we should be rejoicing or a little worried that a Dean with such little presence at our school is going to be with us for many years to come. One also must wonder when he's planning on telling students. Maybe right after he gets around to telling us that our school's name has been changed from "Boalt" to "Berkeley Law"....
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35 comments:
who writes the berkeley law blog? can we get some profile please?
...seconded.
Hey, did you ever ask if you could co-blog at N&B? I'm guessing the answer is yes (just about everyone else does already). We would all be better off if you just consolidated your efforts instead of trying to run some competitive "look who is better" type schtick. It's not cool. It's weird.
screw nuts and boalts
i personally find it difficult to have a discussion on that blog with all the censoring that goes on, and irrelevant posts. personally, i welcome an additional source of info and entertainment.
9:06 PM here -- obviously, by "that blog" I meant N&B (in case it wasn't already clear)
dude, 9:02, you are being veeeeerrry, un-boalt!
And that's really the point of my comment above . . . y'all bloggers should be working collaboratively to give something to the boalt community, not fighting back and forth to see who posts DE's email first. All the boalties I know are above that kind of thing. Right?
Don't get all mad and flame me, I'm just saying, and I think I am right, that the project over here is in a tad of conflict with the boalt I know and love . . . that's all.
I never asked if I could co-blog at N&B, though I was (and still am) a reader and commenter.
Personally, I don't see how more choice is bad. Both blogs happen to be oriented toward similar topics, but Berkeley Law Blog is a separate blog with different contributors and policies. If you like a discussion on N&B, go there. If you like something you read here, come here. It's not mutually exclusive.
giving back to the boalt community =/= censoring posts.
should everyone who posts about a particular topic consolidate their blogs?
Soooo back on the topic of the original post... does anyone else find Edley's email a little odd? Talking about how his sister in law will help out with his kids?
How long is he going to be with us? The "finishing out my career here" comment is a little ominous...
I don't see how the censorship thing keeps popping up about N&B. It's not like the admins of this blog are going to allow it to turn into XOXO or some equivalent. Why expect N&B to? I don't want to see it get that way...
Besides - I rarely see any opportunity let alone actual censorship occur.
I also second the desire to see the blogs merged. I just don't see how "more choice" requires more destinations. It's not like the authors of N&B get together and vote on what gets posted. If someone particularly interested in being a contributing author wants to provide "more choice" he or she can likely ask to do so (I assume). Don't come across as a DB, and I dont see how Armen or any of the others would have a problem with it.
And don't pretend you'd be getting any traffic at all if you weren't posting anonymously in the comments sections of N&B. Seriously, what's the difference (other than being less shady).
Hear, Hear!
I'll third that! Merge, Merge, Merge. It's Boalt! The N&B people are sitting on either side of you in class, anyway.
Why don't you all offer your perspective in one place? It's not like nuts and boalts is a brand, or like, as someone said above, they all get together an vote.
And censorship? Come on, I've been reading that blog for a couple of years now. They pull down offensive and inflammatory comments -- the kind of remarks that make us all look bad -- just like you would do here, too.
How about you kiss and make up?
yeah, that's unusual. how old are his kids anyway? can anyone take a guess at what post she'd get? deputy chief of staff? has anyone else picked this story up?
my post was removed and all i did was refer to the pro-war crazies at the Berkeley City Council hearing as "war mongers"
If N&B wants to come over and post here, they're more than welcome to. But I don't think that the solution is having one forum for everyone at Boalt to voice their opinions.
I'd "fourth" that consideration, with some reservations.
If you look at that insanely long comment string from the City Council post, you'll see how this blog started out. Some person wanted to be an ass hole and call out military supporters for supporting the military (repeatedly in some inflammatory way). He was deleted and he whined about it. Then he started this blog and he's one of the authors here. I like N&B and I just worry that he may exude what an earlier commenter referred to as a "DB" nature. Also, his repeated use of his poster name followed by going anonymous (see 9:49 here) is a bit creepy.
Assuming he can keep all of that in check, more power to the merger.
What, you think TWO forums are better? Three? Ten?
ONE forum where everyone comes together. And them come over here? That's silly -- they have been there for three years and it would be a real waste to lose all the archived information about OCIP, clerkships, etc.
Am I loony? Or is this whole "We're-not-them" thing very silly? And why can't I escape the feeling that the authors of this blog are anonymously posting comments to, uh, their own blog?
Yuck. This is bringing out the worst in me. Y'all know what I think. I doubt I'm alone.
Good night.
ummm 9:49 here... N&B censored my post, and I'm not the one who started this blog.
Repeat anonymous comment about this place being good because it lacks the weird popularity factor (and age worship) that occurs at N&B.
Association with a blog is a form of speech. I personally don't want to be associated with some of the posters, posts, or policies over on N&B.
Further, why should there be a monopoly on Boalt-related blogs? Should there forever and always be only one blog, run by the same people (and their heirs), that discusses issues relevant to Boalt? It's silly to suggest that everyone who wants to post on a blog that's geared toward a particular topic consolidate.
who's DE's wife anyway? is she a big deal?
"A source close to the administration"? All anonymous bloggers? Sounds like a really open and honest forum to promote non-censored discussion....at least if Armen deletes something you know there was a deletion. Who knows what these petty fools are doing?
Another totally amazing pulled from nowhere theory: this is the administration's blog to try to promote the new non-Boalt name....expect a post on how efficient and effective CDO is sometime soon.
I haven't seen anything anti-this blog from N&B, but this blog certainly seems to hate N&B. Giant chip on struggling shoulder?
as exciting as a thread about Edley is, boaltalk.blogspot.com has some news about the BBB....
How does a shoulder struggle?
(Except through metonymy or strained use.)
Just as with any other blog, you'll have to take my word that I'm not (and will not) covertly delete posts.
I like how Edley casually threw in how he's tight w/Obama. "Oh yeah... we chatted... I wouldn't be surprised if he begs me to work for him at some point..."
I believe it is implausible, though not logically impossible, that he would try to draft me for something.
What is he saying here? that there's still a chance he could be made an offer he couldn't refuse, in which case he'd leave?
Boalt 3L had it right: you're posting anonymous, open-ended questions to your own damn blog.
Yuck.
10:19, I don't know that I've seen this blog attack NB, unless you mean stating what I think is a reasonable disagreement with NB's editorial policies.
I'm confused by posters who seems terribly aggrieved by the existence of (oh no!) two different blogs. Nuts and Boalts is great: TJ, Patrick and MRP have had a streak of good posts. But sometimes it's less great than it could be, and I personally like having an alternative when I'm tired of reading EW on Obama or when Armen's moderation policies irritate me. and maybe I'm oblivious, but I don't get the sense of "fighting back and forth," or a "competitive 'look who is better' type schtick," just another point of view and a market entry. Maybe it's just coincidence that right after BLB opened, N+B seemed to turn over a new leaf. Maybe not. Is checking two blogs really so painful? If anything, it's more procrastination fodder.
Anyway, to return to the actual topic: 10:14, DE's wife is Maria Echaveste, former Bill Clinton Deputy CoS, and (I think) and advisor to the HRC campaign. And I'm sort of wondering when DE is going to make some similar statement to students....
actually, I'm posting anonymous, open ended questions on someone else's blog, to try to stimulate some discussion. do you have anything substantive to say, or did you just come here to make false accusations?
- 10:49 PM
I'm sorry but am I the only one who has a hard time just accepting this e-mail as legitimate and credible? If it is great. And I don't doubt that Dean E hearts Boalt (er..BLS). But doesn't this e-mail miss a certain Edley panache?
I just find it hard to accept this as real.
I was the one who said, "Are we too lazy to start our own blog?" on the night of the City Council thread. I don't know who took the initiative, but good for you.
The competition has, at least, spurred N&B to make some relevant posts on a regular basis. The idea that we should only have one blog--and only the one run by the narcissistic graduate clinging to his 15 minutes of fame by retaining and exercising admin privileges well after he has a real job--is absurd.
This comment is long, and off-topic as to the interesting Edley post, I apologize in advance. It addresses the discussion in the comments.
I was one of N&B's earliest contributors (second after Armen, who I met just before classes began). I always thought it was a useful experiment and was proud when it proved it could have real utility as a source of information exchange, such as the OCIP and summer job threads. I was also always aware that there was a certain hostility to N&B among various student constituencies, which discomfited me but I could live with because, unlike previous commenter G.B., I don't believe that "association with a blog is a form of speech." I don't know what "speech" N&B is reputed to voice, but it is a group blog, not a blood pact, and my view has always been that the members speak/write only for themselves, and the commenters write for themselves, and we all move on. I disagreed strongly with Tom Fletcher on occasion and mildly often, but I had no problem sharing a forum with him -- he could express his ideas and I mine. If you don't want to listen to his ideas, or mine, or the other N&B contributors and commenters, well, I guess that is a different issue.
I think perhaps announcing by announcing its arrival to the blogosphere with a thoroughly backhanded compliment of the "esteemed" Nuts & Boalts (by suggesting that it was lacking in relevance and unfriendly to free speech) was unnecessarily hostile. As was proclaiming that this blog would be an "alternative" to N&B, when in reality I think the best case scenario for N&B, this blog (have we settled on a name?) and Boalt Hall (have we settled on a name?) would be that all of these student-generated on-line resources supplement each other.
In any case, I also don't see the need to merge. What's the point? There is room enough for two student-run blogs at Boalt, it's just an extra click of the mouse for readers, and I think there is some merit to keeping the number of contributors down -- it encourages thoughtful posts and cohesion among members/contributors (something N&B always lacked). Most importantly, if there are people who wouldn't otherwise contribute to the on-line life at Boalt (out of distaste for N&B or whatever) but who will contribute here, as members or commenters, that is a good thing.
LH, I'll push Armen to put you all on the blogroll at N&B. I think it's great that more people are blogging at Boalt. But for those of you who would engage in personal attacks against Armen, particularly anonymously, I think it is a pretty classless move (and I'm looking at you 11:28). I believe Armen did the Boalt community a great service starting N&B (look at the lifespan and readership numbers of all the other Boalt student blogs -- not long and not large, respectively -- and that's largely because of Armen's determination). Whatever issues you may have with the quality or tenor of the postings at N&B, Armen deserves some public credit for what he has tried to create; he does not need to be made the needless of personal attacks.
On the main topic, this seems like a good thing. I'm an alum, but I remember the short, troubling reign of Dean Dwyer. Shudder. Edley is quite an improvement.
Tacitus--I think the key phrase is "student-run." There should be term limits or rules against perpetuities or whatever against former students retaining control of any blog that purports to represent the school. Your man Armen is turning into the guy who keeps hanging around with high school kids long after graduation (Wooderson, anybody?)
I find it comforting that DE plans to stay here to see his master plan through. I assumed all along that he would leave in the middle of the construction rubble.
Regarding comments here: great, yet another bitchy boalt blog. Grow up, kiddos.
Well, it's nice to see that the constant sniping that we get from commenters on N&B will also be fully represented here, as well.
As for DE, I hope this is true. I think he's done a great job and I'm excited about his vision despite having to pay for it through skyrocketing fees.
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