Duke's rival across Tobacco Road suffered a non-basketball loss this week when Erwin Chemerinsky declined an offer to become the next dean for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.
The University's constitutional law standout opted to remain in Durham last week after being offered UNC School of Law's top position, Chemerinsky confirmed Sunday.
"I've only got one thing to say: I'm thrilled to be remaining at Duke University," said Chemerinsky, professor of law and political science. "I feel enormously happy to be here, and I look forward to being here for years to come."
Chemerinsky had been in negotiations with the School of Law after it extended an unofficial offer last week. But he ultimately declined the position Thursday after deciding that UNC would not be able to provide the School of Law with the resources he sought, according to the School of Law website.
Chemerinsky admitted that he and UNC administrators "couldn't reach an agreement" on the resources. He declined, however, to expound upon exactly which resources he felt UNC neglected to provide the School of Law, citing that the negotiations were confidential.
"They can say whatever they want about the negotiations, but I would feel uncomfortable other than to say that I'm honored to remain at Duke," he explained.
Chemerinsky's decision to stay may also have been influenced in part by his background at private universities, Mike Smith, chair of the dean search committee for the School of Law and dean of the UNC School of Government, told The Daily Tar Heel. "I think he didn't feel he would have the resources he wanted to realize his vision for the law school," Smith said. "I felt the provost made a really generous. unprecedented offer.... I respect his decision, that's his own judgment about what he felt was necessary."
UNC Provost Robert Shelton was notified of Chemerinsky's refusal via fax Thursday afternoon. Shelton then notified the law faculty of Chemerinsky's decision later that afternoon. He also recommended that the dean search committee reconvene in order to strategize a course of action for selecting the School of Law's next top official.
Chemerinsky was identified as one of three finalists for the coveted position in January, alongside Davison Douglas, professor at William and Mary School of Law, and Teresa Roseborough, a partner in the Atlanta-based Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan LLP law firm. "We have two other strong candidates in the pool who we brought to campus, and we need to evaluate them very carefully," Smith told the DTH.
The selection committee, which will reconvene this week, will go back to the drawing board to make its next selection. It will take one of three actions: extend the deanship offer to one of the other two finalists, select another group of finalists from the original applicant pool or reopen the application process.
Although more than 40 candidates applied for the position, Chemerinsky was not originally among the group of applicants. UNC specifically sought him out, he told The Chronicle in January.
Chemerinsky, a leading expert in legal ethics who frequently argues in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, came to the Duke Law School in Fall 2002 as a visiting professor.
He decided to make Durham his permanent home and joined Duke's law school and political science department faculty in 2004. Chemerinsky previously had spent 21 years in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California Law School.
Katharine Bartlett, dean of Duke's School of Law, told The Chronicle in January that although faculty and staff would remain supportive regardless of Chemerinsky's decision regarding UNC's offer, the school would be "very sorry to lose him" because he has had a significant impact at Duke.
"We'd love to keep him and hope he decides to stay," she said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.